Richard Rush: Republican Diplomat, 178-1859

by J.H. Powell

This volume deals with a man whose life was intimately connected with a most significant formative period in American civilization. Son of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, Richard Rush was not such a dynamic personality, but in his earnest, gracious way he left almost as deep an imprint on many phases of national life.

Educated as a lawyer, his first public: post was Attorney-General of Pennsylvania. This was followed in 1811 by appointment as Comptroller of the United States Treasury, and in 1814 as Attorney-General of the United States. He was Secretary of State in 1817, consummating the Rush-Bagot Convention de­militarizing the boundary between America and Canada. For eight years, 1817-1825, he was Minister to England, negotiating the Commercial Convention of 1818, conducting the initial conversations which led to the Monroe Doctrine, and working tirelessly for Anglo-American accord. He returned to the United States in 1825 to be Adams' Secretary of the Treasury and unsuccessful candidate for Vice-President in 1828. He was a leading advocate of internal improvements and prominent as an Anti-Mason, but split with his party over the Bank issue. In 1836 Jackson sent him to England to secure the estate of James Smithson, from which grew the Smithsonian Institution. His last office was that of Minister to France in 1847, completing a career of exceptional variety and service, which is described in this biography for the first time.

In addition to his official activities, Rush was a prolific writer, chiefly of political pamphlets, but he also edited the first authentic collection of the federal statues and published the two volumes of Memoranda of his diplomatic missions. His life necessarily touched many of the great men of his day, and throughout this record of Richard Rush the background and personalities of an important historical period are clearly traced for the reader.

296 pages, Hardcover

Published January 29, 1942

About the author

John Harvey Powell (1914-1971) graduated from Swarthmore College and earned his Ph.D. degree in American History at the University of Iowa. Powell was Randolph Adams Memorial Lecturer at the University of Michigan and received the A. S. W Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the author of The Books of a New Nation, also published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Rush's entire period of growing up was steeped in the tradition of the American Revolution.
Son of noted physician and patriot Dr. Benjamin Rush, Richard was born in 1780 in Philadelphia and
through his adolescence and teen years he saw the American government work first hand. He saw
all the personalities who survived the Revolution and the Constitutional Convention as guests, colleagues, and occasionally patients of his Dad.

One of those he made the best impression on was James Madison. In 1811 Madison named him Comptroller of the Currency in his administration. But he did not stay there long as in 1814 Madison
appointed him Attorney General. In those days before there was a Department of Justice, the Attorney General's only function was to give legal opinions and appear on behalf of the government
in court. Madison kept Rush busy with all kinds of other tasks regarding the War of 1812 and its
aftermath.

The new James Monroe administration brought Rush the appointment of Minister to Great Britain
where he dealt with two Foreign Secretaries. He managed to get an agreement the Rush-Bagot
Treaty, a most significant agreement declaring the Great Lakes a demilitarized zone. For the rest
of the time dealing with Lord Castlereagh who was Europe focused it was not easy to get his
attention on the USA.

When Castlereagh died George Canning took over as Foreign Secretary. He was far more focused on
the western hemisphere, particularly on those new Latin American republics. Rush had a small
hand in the Monroe Doctrine and keeping Canning at bay in terms of moving in on those vast new
commercial markets in the Southern Hemisphere.

In 1825 Rush was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in the ill fated John Quincy Adams administration. It was an administration with a lot of ambitious ideas that went for nought because of the opposition of the new Democratic party and its leader Andrew Jackson. Rush was
Quincy Adams running mate for Vice President in 1828 and went down with the ship.

There were only two public services more that Rush did. He was a special envoy sent by Andrew
Jackson to secure the legacy of James Smithson from Great Britain which eventually became the
Smithsonian Institution. And James Polk appointed him Minister to France in the last half of his
term in 1847.

I can't say Rush lived in splendid retirement, he had financial woes his whole life. But it was
comfortable enough. He dies in 1859 a relic of a bygone age as the USA starts coming apart and the
Civil War ensues.

J.H.Powell bring us a picture of an able and useful public servant. One who used family connections
to advance. Why not with the connections his dad left him?

[Jerry Landry · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a bit dated in style, this was a fascinating biography of a lesser known though pivotal figure in the Early Republic and the Jacksonian era.