NY wants to replace statue of slave-owning Founding Father with one of Harriet Tubman

Statues of slave-owning Founding Fathers have represented New York in the U.S. Capitol for nearly 150 years.

Now, state lawmakers want to replace one of the statues with a famous New Yorker who helped free people — not enslave them.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed putting a statue of Harriet Tubman in the National Statuary Hall. The plan was included in the governor’s proposed budget and on page 117 of the 2025 State of the State book.

The likeness of Tubman would replace the statue of Robert Livingston, one of the two sculpted figure sent by the state to represent New York in the 1870s, Politico reported.

Tubman escaped slavery and went on to help dozens of others to freedom. The abolitionist, suffragist, nurse and Civil War spy retired to Auburn in Central New York, where she spent her final years and is buried.

This photograph provided by Abrams Books shows Harriet Tubman in a photograph dating from 1860-75. Library of Congress, via APLibrary of Congress, via AP

Livingston, one of the United States’ Founding Fathers, served as the chancellor of New York for nearly 24 years. While he was considered to have “complex” feelings toward slavery, the lawyer owned at least 15 enslaved people during the nation’s first census in 1790, according to the Gotham Center for New York City History.

In the budget, the governor’s office called Tubman a “symbol of courage, liberation, and equality.”

“Tubman’s history is deeply connected to New York, where she lived and worked to advance freedom and justice, making her an ideal representative of the state’s values,” Hochul’s office wrote in the State of the State book.

Auburn, New yYork — The Harriet Tubman home on South Avenue in Auburn, New York, was designated a National Park in 2014 to honor the woman known as the "Moses of her people" for her years as liberator of slaves using the Underground Railroad. Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.comStephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com

The National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. houses 100 statues of important historical figures.

Each state has two busts or statues in the hall. New York’s other statue depicts George Clinton, a Founding Father who was the first elected vice president of the U.S. and a seven-term New York governor.

Clinton — like the majority of the nation’s Founding Fathers — also owned slaves, according to the Illinois Answers Project. As governor, he signed the act that ended the slave trade in New York in 1788.

To start the process of getting a likeness Tubman in Statuary Hall, Hochul proposed working with the state Legislature to pass a resolution to fund the design, creation and transportation of the statue to the Capitol.

“This effort will bring greater recognition to women’s contributions to history and align with broader movements for equal representation,” the governor’s office wrote in the State of the State book.

Hochul’s proposal to replace Livingston’s statue with one of Tubman is supported by the state’s Senate and Assembly and has since been included in both chamber’s budget bills, Politico reported.