Richard Rush (politician)

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Richard Rush

Richard Rush (born August 29, 1780 in Philadelphia , † July 30, 1859 ibid) was an American diplomat, politician, attorney general (Attorney General) and finance minister .

Family, studies and professional career

The son of the doctor, writer, teacher and humanist Benjamin Rush , who was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 , began general education at the College of New Jersey at the age of 14 , which he completed in 1797 as the youngest student of his year. After studying law , he was admitted to the bar in 1800 at the age of 20. As such, he quickly gained a reputation as an outstanding speaker and successful litigator.

Political career

Attorney General and Ambassador to London

In 1811 he was first appointed Attorney General of Pennsylvania , but was appointed Comptroller of the Treasury by President James Madison in November 1811 . Despite this relatively inferior position, his close friendship with Madison made him one of the President's secret advisers during the British-American War of 1812 .

In 1814 Madison offered him the assumption of the Treasury or Justice Department in his cabinet . Rush decided on February 10, 1814 for the office of Minister of Justice ( Attorney General ), which he exercised until November 12, 1817.

The Great Lakes, general map

At times he was until the arrival of John Quincy Adams also acting foreign minister . In this function, he concluded the Rush Bagot Agreement with the British Ambassador in Washington , Sir Charles Bagot , in 1817 , which resulted in the demilitarization of the border with Canada at the Great Lakes .

In October 1817 he took over the office of ambassador in London from Adams , which he then held until 1825. As such, he negotiated some important agreements with the United Kingdom, such as the London Treaty , which, in addition to defining borders, also regulated trade relations between the two states and which he signed with Foreign Minister Robert Stewart in 1818 .

In 1820 he ran from England as Vice President of the United States for the Federalist Party , but received only one electoral vote.

Treasury Secretary under President Adams

After the election of John Quincy Adams as US President , Rush actually wanted to be appointed Minister of the Navy , after having dealt intensively with the Royal Navy during his ambassadorial office. However, President Adams named him Treasury Secretary March 7, 1825. He held this office with considerable success until the end of Adams' presidency on March 4, 1829.

In particular, he was able to hand over a large budget surplus to his successor . In addition, almost all of the national debt had been reduced by this point . He was considered a defender of the Second Bank of the United States , in which he saw a safe institution for government funds. In trade policy , he was an advocate of protectionism and a restrictive interest rate to increase the productivity of American factories . At the same time he tried to research the relationship between interest rates and trade through trade statistics.

In 1828 he was a candidate of the National Republican Party for the office of Vice President as running mate of John Quincy Adams, who was defeated by Andrew Jackson in the presidential election.

Diplomatic negotiator and envoy in Paris

After leaving the Treasury, he traveled to England and the Netherlands on behalf of the cities of Georgetown and Alexandria, where he successfully negotiated the granting of loans.

The Smithsonian's information center, usually just called "The Castle"

In 1836, President Jackson named him plenipotentiary in England to secure the legacy of the British mineralogist and chemist James Smithson to the United States, which later made the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution possible.

President James K. Polk finally appointed him envoy to France in 1847 . In 1849 he resigned from this office and then settled in Philadelphia .

Publications

  • Codification of Tile Laws of the United States . 5 volumes, Philadelphia, 1815
  • Narrative of a Residence at the Court of London from 1817 till 1825 . London, 1833
  • Comprising Incidents, Official and Personal, from 1819 till 1825 . 1845
  • Washington in Domestic Life . 1857
  • Occasional Productions, Political, Diplomatic, and Miscellaneous, including the Court and Government of Louis Philippe, and the French Revolution of 1848 . 1860

literature

Web links

Commons : Richard Rush  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Rush, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician, attorney general, and treasury secretary
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1780
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 1859
Place of death Philadelphia , Pennsylvania