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Richard Rush
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Rush, Richard, 1780-1859, Amercian statesman and diplomat, b. Philadelphia, Pa.; son of Benjamin Rush. He studied law and became (1811) attorney general of Pennsylvania, resigning the same year to become comptroller of the U.S. Treasury, and from 1814 to 1817 was U.S. Attorney General. While serving temporarily as Secretary of State (1817), he helped negotiate the Rush-Bagot Convention and in the same year was made minister to Great Britain. He signed (1818) a convention with the British providing for joint occupation of the Oregon country. His preliminary negotiations with George Canning, British foreign minister, on policy toward Latin America led to the enunciation (1823) of the Monroe Doctrine. In 1825 he became Secretary of the Treasury and in 1828 was the vice presidential candidate on the unsuccessful John Quincy Adams ticket. Rush spent from 1836 to 1838 in England obtaining the Smithson bequest for the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution. Later, he was (1847-49) minister to France.
Bibliography
See biography by J. H. Powell (1942).
| Legal Encyclopedia: Rush, Richard |
Richard Rush served as U.S. attorney general from 1814 to 1817. Although he was recognized as an able lawyer, Rush's greatest contributions came in the field of diplomacy. He negotiated treaties that demilitarized the Great Lakes and set the northernmost boundaries between the United States and Canada. He also played a part in the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution.
Rush was born on August 29, 1780, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father was Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the towering intellectual figures of his day. Rush entered Princeton University in 1793 at the age of thirteen and graduated in 1797. He went on to study law and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1800. In 1811 he became Pennsylvania attorney general but left that position when President James Madison appointed him comptroller of the U.S. Treasury.
In 1814, after declining the office of secretary of the treasury, Rush was appointed attorney general under President James Monroe. At age thirty-four, he is the youngest attorney general in U.S. history. His major contribution was to edit the Laws of the United States (1815), a codification of all federal statutes enacted between 1789 and 1815. For a short time in 1817, Rush performed the duties of the secretary of state and was instrumental in the drafting of the Rush-Bagot Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, which restricted the use of naval forces on the Great Lakes.
Late in 1817 Rush resigned as attorney general to serve as the U.S. minister to Britain. He remained in this position until 1825. While in London he negotiated the 1818 agreement between the two countries that fixed the forty-ninth parallel as the boundary between Canada and the United States, from the Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains. Rush also participated in discussions with British foreign minister George Canning concerning South America. These discussions led to the announcement of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which declared that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization and that any European intervention would be regarded as a threat to the security of the United States.
President John Quincy Adams recalled Rush in 1825 to serve as his secretary of the treasury. In 1828 he was Adams's unsuccessful vice presidential running mate. In the 1830s, Rush published A Residence at the Court of London (1833) and returned to England, where he served as an official agent of the United States. In this capacity he received the bequest by which James Smithson founded the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Rush became involved with the planning of the Smithsonian and served on its board of regents.
In 1847 President James Polk appointed Rush minister to France. He served for two years before retiring from public service and devoting himself to his writing. Rush died on July 30, 1859, in Philadelphia.
| Wikipedia: Richard Rush |
For the director, see Richard Rush (director).
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Richard Rush
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| In office March 7, 1825 – March 5, 1829 |
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| President | John Quincy Adams |
| Preceded by | William H. Crawford |
| Succeeded by | Samuel D. Ingham |
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| In office February 10, 1814 – November 12, 1817 |
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| President | James Madison (1814-1817) James Monroe (1817) |
| Preceded by | William Pinkney |
| Succeeded by | William Wirt |
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| Born | August 29, 1780 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | July 30, 1859 (aged 78) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Federalist, National Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine Eliza Rush |
| Alma mater | College of New Jersey |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
| Signature |  |
Richard Rush (August 29, 1780 – July 30, 1859) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the second son (and third child) of Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and Julia (Stockton) Rush. He entered the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) at the age of 14, and graduated in 1797 as the youngest member of his class. He was admitted to the bar in 1800, when he was barely 20 years old, and studied law at the office of William Draper Lewis. He married Catherine Eliza Murray on August 29, 1809, and fathered ten children, of whom three sons and two daughters survived him.
He enjoyed a cultivated childhood; during his life he was a statesman, diplomat, widely-praised orator and key figure in two Administrations (James Madison and John Quincy Adams), and carved a distinguished career in public affairs in his own right. Quickly gaining statewide then national attention as a public speaker and successful trial lawyer, Rush was appointed Attorney General in Pennsylvania in 1811, after refusing to be a candidate for Congress. In November of the same year, President James Madison made him Comptroller of the Treasury.
From this relatively subordinate position, Rush functioned as one of President Madison's closest friends and confidential advisors throughout the War of 1812. In 1814 he was offered the choice of Secretary of the Treasury or Attorney General of the United States, and choosing the latter, serving until 1817 when, as Acting Secretary of State until the return of John Quincy Adams from Europe, Rush concluded the Rush-Bagot Convention, demilitarizing the Canadian boundary on the Great Lakes.
In October 1817, Rush was appointed Minister to Britain to succeed John Quincy Adams, who had taken the position of Secretary of State upon his return. His "gentlemanly" attitude was appreciated by the British, and he remained there for nearly eight years, proving singularly effective in negotiating a number of important treaties, including the Anglo-American Convention of 1818.
He became surprisingly popular in England, despite his previous anti-British record. In 1823, Rush negotiated with Britain over British proposals that the two countries issue a joint declaration against French involvement in Spain's rebelling American colonies, but Britain would not agree to American demands for recognition of the newly independent republics, leading to the separate American declaration of the Monroe Doctrine.
He received one electoral vote as a Federalist for the office of Vice President in the 1820 election, even though the Federalist Party nominated no candidate for President in that election.
Upon the election of John Quincy Adams in 1825, Rush (having made a study of Britain, and the British Navy in particular, while he was there) desired to become the Secretary of the Navy. Adams, however, immediately nominated him for the post of 8th Secretary of the Treasury, which he accepted. He served in this position with remarkable success during the entire Adams Administration from March 7, 1825 until March 5, 1829. Notably, he paid off nearly the whole public debt, and turned over to his successor a large treasury surplus.
In 1828, he was a candidate for Vice President on the re-election ticket with John Quincy Adams, but was defeated. After leaving the Treasury Department, he was sent to England and the Netherlands by the cities of Georgetown and Alexandria to negotiate a large loan for the cities, a mission which met with prompt success.
In 1836, President Andrew Jackson sent him to England as Commissioner to secure for the United States the legacy left the government by James Smithson. He was successful in this undertaking, bringing to this country the sum of $508,318.46, which would eventually be used to establish the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Rush later became one of the first regents of the institution.
In 1847, Richard Rush was appointed as Minister to France by President James K. Polk. When his negotiations were interrupted by the overthrow of King Louis-Philippe, he was among the first foreign diplomats to recognize the new French Second Republic. He remained in France until his recall by the new Whig administration in 1849, when he returned to the land of his birth, to retire in Philadelphia. He there died on July 30, 1859. Prior to his death, Rush had been the last surviving member of the Madison and Monroe Cabinets.
Source
This article contains material from the US Department of Justice Attorneys General of the United States which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
External links
- Works by or about Richard Rush in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Works by Richard Rush at Project Gutenberg
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by William Pinkney |
Attorney General of the United States 1814–1817 |
Succeeded by William Wirt |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by John Quincy Adams |
U.S. Minister to Great Britain 1817–1825 |
Succeeded by Rufus King |
| Preceded by William R. King |
U.S. Minister to France 1847–1849 |
Succeeded by William C. Rives |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by William H. Crawford |
United States Secretary of the Treasury Served Under: John Quincy Adams 1825 – 1829 |
Succeeded by Samuel D. Ingham |
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| Preceded by (none) |
National Republican Party vice presidential candidate 1828 (lost) |
Succeeded by John Sergeant |
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