Green Dragon Press
“The last hope of human liberty in this world rests on us.”
UNDER THE
LIBERTY TREE
Thomas Jefferson
.MA
A Collection of Works and Quotes for We The People of the United States ...
given to us by our Founding Fathers along with their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor”.
Art Credit: Editor
October 2013
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Issue Number Four- 1st Printing
Benjamin Rush, M.D.
Founding Father and
Father of American Medicine
“The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in
religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be
no liberty.”
- Benjamin Rush
Born January 4, 1746 to John Rush and Susanna Hall Harvey in Byberry, Pennsylvania.
Benjamin’s father died when he was only six years old. His mother worked in a grocery store to support the family.
He received a classical education at West Nottingham Academy in Maryland, became fluent in Greek & Latin, and at age 14 became the
school’s youngest graduate ever. After completing his prep school studies, Rush entered the College of New Jersey (which later became
Princeton University). In 1760, at age sixteen, Benjamin earned his college degree (A.B.).
1761-1766- Benjamin studied medicine under Dr. John Redman in Philadelphia. During this time, he was greatly influenced by Gilbert
Tennet, a Presbyterian minister and leader in the Great Awakening, (a critical Christian religious movement) that was sweeping
throughout the Northeast. He continued his medical training at St. Thomas Hospital in London, and then moved onto Edinburgh
and Paris for further study. In 1768, Benjamin received his medical degree.
Returning to America, Dr. Rush joined the faculty of College of Philadelphia (later University of Pennsylvania) as a professor
of chemistry. Rush also wrote the first chemistry book that was published in the United States.
He opened a private practice, and worked extensively amongst the poor. He was a man who was much loved in his community.
In 1773 Rush began contributing editorial essays to the papers about the Patriot cause. He became an active member of
the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia during that time. In 1775 Dr. Rush became a delegate to the Continental Congress.
In 1776, Benjamin Rush, M.D., signed the Declaration of Independence.
That same year married Julia Stockton. The couple had thirteen children, nine of whom survived him.
During the Revolutionary War he served briefly as the Surgeon General of the Continental Army.
As a heroic Army surgeon, Rush had several narrow escapes.
In 1786, Dr. Rush founded the Philadelphia Bible Society, he was also a founding member
of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons.
In 1787 he became one of our Founders who ratified the Constitution.
He spoke openly in his community of Philadelphia, calling for a free public school education for all Americans.
At the request of the Quaker Reformer Anthony Bezenet, Rush wrote “An address to The Inhabitants of the British
Settlements in America, Upon Slave Keeping” This pamphlet spoke strongly against the slave trade and slavery in general.
In 1788, after having a a vivid dream describing the horrors of slavery starring former slaves and the now-late Anthony Bezenet,
Rush became an active abolitionist and, indeed, promised freedom to his own slave, William Grubber.
He worked tirelessly during the 1793 great yellow fever epidemic, caring for patients and attempting to curb the spread of disease,
even though he was putting himself in danger the entire time.
In 1799 Dr. Rush was appointed Treasurer of the U.S. Mint, a position he held until his death in 1813.
In 1809, yet another dream of Dr. Benjamin Rush helped shape the course of American History. He had a dream about his two friends
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who had been estranged for many years. In his dream, their reconciliation was of utmost importance
to this new Nation, as their future letters to each other would be read by many, and for generations to come. He even dreamed they would
somehow die ‘together’. Indeed, their letters are still referred to today, as they explain intentions and thoughts of our Founders, and thus
our Founding Documents. Rush approached Adams and asked that he re-establish his friendship with Jefferson. In Adam’s famous
return letter to Rush, he states that if Jefferson writes to him, he would surely answer. The dream proved prophetic, as these two great
men renewed their friendship and passed into the grave within hours of each other on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence. Dr. Rush felt that it was the Hand of God that was instrumental in this reconciliation.
In 1813 Dr. Benjamin Rush died of typhus fever at the age of 68. The marker near his grave reads:
"In memory of Benjamin Rush MD he died on the 19th of April in the year of our Lord 1813 Aged 68 years
Under The Liberty Tree.MA
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Well done good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of the Lord"
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Green Dragon Press
UNDER THE LIBERTY TREE.MA
PAGE 2
A Collection of Quotes for We The People of the United States ... from Benjamin Rush, M.D., ‘The Father of American Medicine’.
“Liberty
“Patriotism is as much a virtue
without
as justice, and is necessary
virtue would
for the support
be no blessing
of societies
to us.”
as natural affection is
for the support of families”
The Moral Thermometer
from ‘Effects of Spiritous Liquors’
by Benjamin Rush, 1790
“I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am perfectly
satisfied that the Union of the United States in its form and adoption is as much the work of a
Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament.”
- Letter from Benjamin Rush to Elias Boudinot on July 9, 1788
The following quote is taken from the eulogy of Benjamin Rush, 1813. It was spoken by David Ramsay who
said of Rush, “In the year 1798 he thus expressed himself, in a letter to him who now addresses you:”
“I have been alternately called an aristocrat and a democrat. I am now neither. I am a Christocrat.
I believe all power, whether hereditary or elective, will always fail of producing order and happiness in the hands of man.
He alone who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.” -Benjamin Rush, 1798
“Domestic slavery is repugnant to the principles of Christianity. ... It is rebellion against the authority of a common
Father. It is a practical denial of the extent and efficacy of the death of a common Savior. It is an usurpation of the
prerogative of the great Sovereign of the universe who has solemnly claimed an exclusive property in the souls of men.”
- Benjamin Rush, Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1794
"A simple democracy ...
is one of the greatest of evils."
-Benjamin Rush
in a letter to John Adams July 21, 1789
“I promised to give you my reasons for preferring the Bible as a schoolbook...
3. That the Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state
than any other book in the world..”
- Benjamin Rush, 1830
Some References:
A Defence Of The Use Of The Bible In Schools by Benjamin Rush 1830
Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by B.J. Lossing, original printing 1848
Wives of the Signers by Harry Clinton Green, original printing 1912
Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor by David Barton
The Dream of Dr. Benjamin Rush & God’s Hand in Reconciling John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson by David Barton www.wallbuilders.com
“Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical”, (Philadelphia: Thomas and Samuel
Bradford, 1798), p.8, “On the MOde of Education Proper in a Republic.”
www.partyof1776.net
www.history.org
www.conservapedia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Rush
Pictures and signature of Benjamin Rush- obtained from Wiki and are Public Domain
Text arranged by the editor and the Team @ the Liberty Chalkboard
Artwork and photographs are from the Editor
www.LibertyChalkboard.org
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Birthplace of Benjamin Rush
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