ben rush

One of our founding fathers, Benjamin Rush For Rush, slavery was not simply unjust; it was a transgression against natural law and a blight against God—a serious charge for the devout Presbyterian Christian. He believed that the new nation could not continue to maintain such a scourge without a reckoning. “Remember that national crimes require national punishments,” he wrote about slavery, “and without declaring what punishment awaits this evil, you may venture to assure them that it cannot pass with impunity, unless God shall cease to be just or merciful.” Rush, therefore, was a committed and prominent abolitionist. In 1787, he joined the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, not only as a powerful advocate but also as an author of its new constitution and as secretary and later president. He maintained close contacts with Philadelphia’s African American community, including helping found the city’s first black church.