SOURCE: Looby, Christopher. “The Constitution of Nature: Taxonomy as Politics in Jefferson, Peale, and Bartram.” Early American Literature 22, no. 3 (1987): 252-73.

In the following essay, Looby discusses the writings of Thomas Jefferson, Charles Willson Peale, and Bartram in relation to their views on the relationship between the natural order and the social order.

Natural history,” Benjamin Rush wrote, “is the foundation of all useful and practical knowledge.” He made this remark in 1791, in the context of designing the proper education for the citizens of the new American republic. “By making natural history the first study of a boy, we imitate the conduct of the first teacher of man,” Rush continued. “The first lesson that Adam received from his Maker in Paradise, was upon natural history. It is probable that the dominion of our great progenitor over the brute creation, and every other living creature, was founded upon a perfect...