The issue of slavery was one that divided the nation like nothing else had in the brief history of the United States. It was one that many of the founding fathers disagreed with, but the reasons as to why they did not think a system of slavery should continue, were extremely varied. Another confounding aspect was that many of the founding fathers owned slaves, even though they did not think such an oppressive way of life was just. Two of these founding fathers were Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Rush, both slave owners who spoke for the equality of slaves, but had different understandings of equality and freedom. Rush looks at slavery as a blatant disregard of the moral human code. He argues for a moratorium on the importation of slaves’ form Africa, …show more content…
While both Benjamin Rush and Thomas Jefferson agree that the system of slavery in place in the United States directly interferes with the natural rights set forth by the founding documents. They differed on the differences between blacks and whites as well as how to handle assimilation. Jefferson argued that blacks lack a lack of social reasoning that would make it impossible for them to properly enter society. He continues this by saying they should be taken back to Africa instead of trying to be free in America. Benjamin Rush takes many of the popular arguments presented at the time and deconstructs them. While him and Jefferson agree on the moral impropriety that existed because of slavery, Rush believes that younger slaves can be educated and brought up to contribute to society in a positive way. Slavery was a complex issue for the founding fathers to face due to the ingrained nature of the practice in a large portion of the United States, something that would play out with a Civil War that brought the country to its