Rush, Richard

Life Span
to
Dickinson Connection
Son of founder
    Full name
    Richard Rush
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    10
    Family
    Benjamin Rush (father), Julia Stockton Rush (mother), Catherine Eliza Murray (wife)
    Education
    Princeton (College of New Jersey)
    Occupation
    Diplomat
    Attorney or Judge
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Federalist
    Government
    Jackson Administration (1829-37)
    Polk Administration (1845-49)
    Diplomat

    Richard Rush (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    In October 1849, recalled from office by the new Whig administration, Rush entered his final retirement. He became deeply concerned over the rising threat to the Union, placing the blame primarily on antislavery agitators, and in 1856 voted for James Buchanan…

    Rush can best be described as an able lieutenant rather than a creative statesman. Aside from his vice presidential candidacy in 1828, he never ran for public office. However, he was not unwilling to take on responsibility, as was shown during his discussions with Canning in 1823 and by his unauthorized recognition of the French republic in 1848. In all of the offices he held, Rush proved diligent, capable, judicious, and, when necessary, firm. He rarely engaged in open controversy, one notable exception being in 1825 when he and the always quarrelsome John Randolph engaged in a fiery public argument following Randolph's statement that Rush's appointment to the Treasury was the worst since Caligula made his horse a consul. Never, while serving as a diplomat, did he show a loss of temper. Tall, lean, and almost bald since his youth, Rush presented a physical appearance appropriate to his manner, and his personality--friendly, even tempered, usually grave but sometimes gently witty--also suited his role.
    Bradford Perkins, "Rush, Richard," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/03/03-00434.html.
    How to Cite This Page: "Rush, Richard," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/6517.