Benjamin Rush on Slavery

Rush also praised the contribution African slaves had made to the North Americans. “It has been urged by the inhabitants of the Sugar Islands and South Carolina, that it would be impossible to carry on the manufactories of Sugar, Rice, and Indigo, without negro slaves.” In Rush’s mind, without the help of Negro slaves, the manufactories of Sugar, Rice, and Indigo would be impossible.

In North America, of course, there were a large number of people who defended the slavery system in terms of Christianity and Scripture. For these people, they believed that “slavery is not repugnant to the Genius of Christianity, and that it is not forbidden in any part of the Scripture.” Regarding this statement, Rush disputed it in terms of Christianity and the laws of nature. Rush thought employing African Negroes would admit “the least violation of the Laws of justice or humanity” and the slave trade was a “direct violation of the Laws of nature and Religion.” He claimed that slavery violated the principles and spirits of the Christianity, because “Christianity will never be propagated by any other methods than those employed by Christ and his Apostles. Slavery is an engine as little fitted for that purpose as Fire or the Sword. A Christian Slave is a contradiction in terms.” To support his arguments, he explained that the “Slavery is an Hydra sin, and includes in it every violation of the precepts of the Law and the Gospel.” Obviously, unlike those who defended the slavery in terms of Christianity, Rush believed that the slavery was not compatible with the principles of the Christianity.