But this friendly disposition was greatly increased in the year 1773, by
the literary labours of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia[B], who, I
believe, is a member of the Presbyterian Church: for in this year, at
the instigation of Anthony Benezet, he took up the cause of the
oppressed Africans in a little work, which he entitled, _An Address to
the Inhabitants of the British Settlements, on the Slavery of the
Negroes_; and soon afterwards in another, which was a vindication of the
first, in answer to an acrimonious attach by a West Indian planter.
These publications contained many new observations; they were written in
a polished style; and while they exhibited the erudition and talents,
they showed the liberality and benevolence of the author. Having had a
considerable circulation, they spread conviction among many, and
promoted the cause for which they had been so laudably undertaken. Of
the great increase of friendly disposition towards the African cause in
this very year, we have this remarkable proof: that when the Quakers,
living in East and West Jersey, wished to petition the legislature to
obtain an act of assembly for the more equitable manumission of slaves
in that province, so many others of different persuasions joined them,
that the petition was signed by upwards of three thousand persons.
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