Benjamin Rush

Dr. Benjamin Rush, painted by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1818

Benjamin Rush (January 4, 1746 [O.S. December 24, 1745] – April 19, 1813) was a physician, writer, educator, and humanitarian. Rush was a Founding Father, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington's personal century physician. He was a confidant of Thomas Jefferson (who is often quoted from letters to Rush), authored one of the first major essays against slavery in the Colonies (in 1773), and is considered by some to be the "Father of American Psychiatry".

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• Temperate, sincere, and intelligent inquiry and discussion are only to be dreaded by the advocates of error. The truth need not fear them...
  • Provisions of the Last Will and Testament of Dr. James Rush[1]

• I need say hardly anything in favor of the Intellects of the Negroes, or of their capacities for virtue and happiness, although these have been supposed by some to be inferior to those of the inhabitants of Europe. The accounts which travelers give of their ingenuity, humanity and strong attachments to their parents, relations, friends and country, show us that they are equal to the Europeans.… All the vices which are charged upon the Negroes in the southern colonies, and the West Indies, such as Idleness, Treachery, Theft and the like, are the genuine offspring of slavery, and serve as an argument to prove, that they were not intended, by Providence, for it.
  • On Slavekeeping (1773)

• The American war is over; but this far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government, and to prepare the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens for these forms of government after they are established and brought to perfection.
  • Letter to Price, May 25, 1786

• Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights.
  • Education Agreeable to a Republican Form of Government[2]

Misattributed

• Unless we put medical freedom into the constitution the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship and force people who wish doctors and treatment of their own choice to submit to only what the dictating outfit offers.
  • This quote is often cited with regards to Rush, and can rarely be found attributed to his autobiography, but does not exist in that book [3][4]. The quote contains words and phrasing that seem anachronistic to late 18th century America.