Richard Nisbet: The Capacity of Negroes for Religious and Moral Improvement Considered

In 1789, based on the Rush-Nisbet slavery debate, as well as his experiences in West-Indies and political tracts on slavery, Nisbet published a book, in which he paid more attention to the capacity of Negroes for religious and moral improvement. Disagreeing with Philadelphia’s abolitionists who thought the African slaves had their own capabilities for religious and moral improvement, Nisbet believed that they were destined to be slaves. In the cover of Nisbet’s book, he made a quotation from James Thomson’s Seasons, which said: “The light that leads to Heaven, Kind equal Rule, the Government of Laws……These are not theirs.” Obviously, Nisbet argued that “the light that leads to Heaven,” “kind equal rule,” “the Government of Laws” were not suitable for African slaves. In this book, Nisbet insisted on the argument that their destinies were slaves, which had been arranged by the God. For African slaves, they should be industrious, obliging, and believing in God.


Richard Nisbet, The Capacity of Negroes for Religious and Moral Improvement Considered (Westport: Negro Universities Press, 1970[1789]).