The history of race and slavery are inextricably intertwined with the foundation and development of the United States.Yet, essays written by Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Cartwright, and Benjamin Rush reveal that definitions of “race” are not static. Proslavery thinkers debated and deliberated the essence of racial differences between whites and blacks, although they did not always think about the reasons for these differences. There are some key aspects of racial thought that are shared by Jefferson and Cartwright. There are also some aspects that differ. Benjamin Rush’s writing is also similar and different to that of Jefferson and Cartwright. Throughout Thomas Jefferson's entire life, he was was an opponent of slavery. He believed that slavery presented the greatest threat to the new American nation. Jefferson also thought that slavery was opposed to the laws of nature, which proclaimed that everyone had the right to personal liberty. These views were progressive in a world where…show more content… Rush was against the slave trade. Rush also thought that black african american people were not inferior to white people. This was an uncommon idea during this time period. According to dickinson.edu “For Rush, human beings were naturally disposed toward freedom, and he regarded African Americans as capable of shouldering the responsibilities of freedom.” This shows that he believed that black people were equal to white people.According to jstor.org, “Negros, Dr.Rush argued scientifically, were not by nature intellectually and morally inferior. Any apparent evidence to the contrary was the only the perverted expression of slavery, which is so foreign to the human mind, that the moral faculties, as well as those of the understanding are debased, and rendered torpid by it.” this quote supports that Rush is full against the idea that african people are inferior to people european descent as well as against the idea of
