diff --git a/git-rebase--interactive.sh b/git-rebase--interactive.sh
index 5773b75f54..cf19bf5ae2 100755
--- a/git-rebase--interactive.sh
+++ b/git-rebase--interactive.sh
@@ -583,7 +583,6 @@ skip_unnecessary_picks () {
 }
 
 get_saved_options () {
-	test -d "$rewritten" && preserve_merges=t
 	test -f "$state_dir"/rebase-root && rebase_root=t
 }