Benjamin Rush as an Radical Abolitionist

As one of the earliest black physicians, Durham was held in the highest regard by many medical practitioners of his era and Rush was not surprised the competence of a former slave in the practice of medicine. When Rush was in need of nurses and Dr. Durham was absent, other black men helped them to take good care of his patients. Witnessed the brevity and intelligence of the African slaves, Rush requested his friends and humanitarians Absalom Jones, Richard Allen and William Gray attempted to provide positions to Negro nurses and workers for the stricken city to deal with the yellow fever.

In Rush’s mind, he wanted to emancipate the African slaves in North America. In order to turn it to be true, Rush started his Negro farm settlement project. Named “Benezet” in honor of the dead Quaker reformer, who influenced Rush in his career as a benefactor of the Negro, the model farm colony was planned for Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Assuming yeoman farming was the best way of life for the Negro, Rush purchased 20,000 acres in February 1794. Moreover, Rush presented 5,200 acres of his Bedford holdings to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. Along with his offer, Rush suggested a plan to distribute land to worthy Negro farmers. In Rush’s opinion, even if his project failed, the Negroes could still benefit, only as long as the lands could be sold and the proceeds “applied for the emancipation and melioration of the condition of the blacks.” Apparently, Rush's programs to help the Negro were “carefully reasoned and planned.” Meanwhile, Rush employed his enlightened medical science “to destroy fear and superstition and to advance the civilization of man.”

Rush was a radical abolitionist. However, it was until 1773 that Rush firstly published his antislavery pamphlet — An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America, upon Slave-Keeping. As an enlightened Christian, he attacked the slave trade in terms of the Enlightenment thinking and the principles of Christianity. But how did his Christian Enlightenment shape his view on the slavery? In order to answer this question, let’s take a look at the Rush-Nisbet slavery debate.