Former President Barack Obama said America’s Founding Fathers should be remembered for both their genius and their ties to slavery as the United States prepares to mark its 250th birthday.
In a Sunday interview with MSNOW, according to the report, Obama said Americans should not treat the country’s founding ideals and its early injustices as separate stories.
Obama said it is possible to admire George Washington while also acknowledging that Washington enslaved people.
Obama described Washington and other founders as historic figures who gave the country important democratic tools.
But he also said those same founders carried a “profound deep flaw” because slavery remained part of the nation they helped build.
Obama said that tension reflects America’s contradictions. He argued that the country’s story includes both extraordinary ideals and painful failures.
George Washington is widely honored as commander of the Continental Army and the first U.S. president.
But Mount Vernon, Washington’s estate, says hundreds of enslaved men, women and children lived under Washington’s control.
Mount Vernon also says Washington depended on enslaved labor to maintain his household and plantation, although he later questioned slavery and ordered some enslaved people freed after his death.
The debate comes as the country prepares to celebrate 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776.
The National Archives says the Declaration states the principles on which the U.S. government and American identity are based.
Obama has often argued that America’s founding promises created a framework that later generations used to expand rights.
The National Archives also describes the U.S. Constitution as a document that united the states and gave power to “We the People.”
Obama’s comments followed the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago earlier this month.
During the center’s opening ceremony, Obama said the founders fell short of the Declaration’s promise by leaving slavery intact and limiting voting rights.
He also said the Constitution and Bill of Rights gave Americans a framework to make the union more perfect over time.
The United States will mark its 250th anniversary on Saturday, July 4, 2026, with events across the country.
For many Americans, the milestone is a moment for celebration, patriotism and national pride.
For others, it is also a moment to examine the gap between America’s founding words and the people who were excluded from those promises.
Obama’s remarks place that debate at the center of the anniversary. His message was that America’s founders can be honored for what they built while still being judged honestly for what they failed to confront.