1Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 8 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I should not so soon have troubled you with a reply to your friendly favor of Mar. 15. but for your saying that ‘if I wish to look into your work on the diseases of the mind you will send me a copy.’ I read with delight every thing which comes from your pen, and the subject of this work is peculiarly interesting. the book by Bishop Porteous which you were so kind as to inclose me, was safely...
2Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 15 March 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
soon After I became the Advocate of domestic Animals as far as related to thier diseases, in the lecture of which I sent you a copy, mr Carver applied to me to become his advocate with our Citizens for the purpose he has mentioned in his letter to you. His proposition at first struck me as humane & praise worthy, but in a short time Afterwards it appeared to me in the same light that it does...
3Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 6 March 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved some time ago a letter signed ‘ James Carver ,’ proposing that myself, and my friends in this quarter should subscribe & forward a sum of money towards the expences of his voyage to London & maintenance there, while going thro’ a course of education in their Veterinary school, with a view to his returning to America , and practising the art in Philadelphia . the name, person &...
4Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 26 April 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 20 th instant came safe to hand, but not accompanied with the pamphflet you have mentioned in it. I have read your letter to M r Adams
5Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 20 April 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I do not know if you may have noticed in the Newspapers of a year or two ago that Edward Livingston had brought a suit against me for a transaction of the Executive while I was in the administration. the dismission of it has been the occasion of publishing the inclosed pamphlet, which is sent to you, not to be read, for there is nothing enticing for you in it, but as a tribute of respect &...
6Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 3 [March] 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
In a letter which I received a few days ago from M r Adams , he informs with a kind of exultation , that After a correspondence of five or six & thirty years had been interrupted by various Causes, it had again be been renewed, and that four letters had passed between you & himself. him . In speaking of your letters he says “they are written with all the elegance, purity and Sweetness of Style...
7Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 11 February 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Few eforts of the Acts of my life have given me more pleasure than the one you are pleased to acknowledge in your last letter . I wish in your reply to M r Adams’s letter you had given him the echo of his Communications to you respecting his daughter M rs Smith and her husband
8Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 21 January 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
As it is thro’ your kind interposition that two old friends are brought together, you have a right to know how the first approaches are made. I send you therefore a copy of mr Adams’s letter to me & of my answer . to avoid the subject of his family, on which I could say nothing, I have written him a rambling, gossiping epistle which gave openings for the expression of sincere feelings, & may...
9Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 17 December 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of Decem r 5 th came to hand yesterday. I was charmed with the Subject of it. In order to hasten the object you have suggested I sat down last evening, and selected such passages from your letter as contained the kindest expressions of regard for m r Adams and transmitted them to him. my letter to him which contained them , was concluded as nearly as I can recollect, for I kept no Copy...
10Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 5 December 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
While at Monticello I am so much engrossed by business or society that I can only write on matters of strong urgency. here I have leisure, as I have every where the disposition to think of my friends. I recur therefore to the subject of your kind letters relating to mr Adams and myself, which a late occurrence has again presented to me. I communicated to you the correspondence which had parted...
11Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 26 August 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I sit down thus early to answer your pleasant and friendly letter from your Forest , from with a desire to administer to your relief from your present indisposition. There shall not be single theory in my prescriptions, & what will be more grateful to you, all of them Shall be derived from the resources of empiricism.—The following remedies have been found useful in similar Cases. I shall...
12Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 17 August 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I write to you from a place, 90. miles from Monticello , near the New London of this state, which I visit three or four times a year, & stay from a fortnight to a month at a time. I have fixed myself comfortably, keep some books here, bring others occasionally, am in the solitude of a hermit, and quite at leisure to attend to my absent friends. I note this to shew that I am not in a situation...
13Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 28 June 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I enclose you another Attempt to combat a greater enemy to the prosperity and liberties of the United states , than the fleets of Britain and the Armies of Bonaparte . It is intended to catch the eye of the Common people—upon the doors of School houses, Court houses and Churches. For this purpose suppose it were republished in your state. Bishop Madison would I have no doubt concur in it, for...
14Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 1 February 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I was much gratified in reading the confidential Communication made to me in your letter . After reading the Correspondence which accompanied it, I acquit you, of in your refusal to renew it, of the least impropriety of temper, or Conduct. On the Contrary, I was delighted with the kindness, benevolence, and even friendship discovered in your Answers to M rs Adams letter. I beleive they were...
15Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 16 January 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I had been considering for some days whether it was not time, by a letter, to bring myself to your recollection, when I recieved your welcome favor of the 2 d inst. I had before heard of the heart-rending calamity you mention, & had sincerely sympathised with your afflictions. but I had not made it the subject of a letter, because I knew that condolances were but renewals of grief. yet I...
16Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 2 January 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Soon After I received your last & Affectionate letter , I was called upon to witness a most distressing Scene have been visited by a deep domestic Affliction. m My eldest son was brought home to me from new Orleans in a state of melancholy derangement brought on induced
17Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 22 September 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I have long owed you a letter in answer to yours of May 3. an acknolegement of the reciept of the pamphlet on the use of the Omentum, & congratulations on the satisfaction you must derive from having a son, entering, under auspices so promising, the career you have run before him. I am not learned enough in these branches of science to decide on the soundness of the hypothesis maintained in...
18Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 3 May 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Though late, I hope I am not among the last of your friends in congratulating you upon your escape from the high and dangerous appointment which your Country (to use the words of Lord Chesterfield ) inflicted upon you during the last eight years of your life.—Methinks I see you renewing your Acquaintance with your philosophical instruments, and with the friends of your Youth in your library —...
19From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 13 October 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
This will be delivered you by my grandson Th Jefferson Randolph, who goes to Philadelphia to attend a course of lectures in Natural history Anatomy & Botany. he will also attend the lecturer in Surgery, but as an amateur, and with a view to the care of a family when he shall have one, in a country situation where we have no surgeons & want them every day. he may then recollect and apply what...
20From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 3 January 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Dr. Waterhouse has been appointed to the Marine hospital of Boston as you wished. it was a just tho small return for his merit in introducing the Vaccination earlier than we should have had it. his appointment makes some noise, there & here being unacceptable to some: but I believe that schismatic divisions in the medical fraternity are at the bottom of it. my usage is to make the best...
21To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 28 November 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just now received a letter from Dr Waterhouse in which he has requested me to address you in favor of his petition to be appointed Successor to Dr Eustis in the Charge of the marine hospital at Boston. Dr Waterhouse stands high with all the Scientific members of his profession. The New England states are indebted to him for introducing Vaccination into them,—and at an expense too of...
22To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 6 December 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the honor to enclose you, with this letter, two pamphflets upon the yellow fever.—One of them for yourself, and the Other to be sent to the Chairman, or any other Active member of the Committee appointed to consider of that part of your message which relates to the Quarantine laws of the United States. I wish the pamphflet to be sent in your name, and that mine may not be mentioned in...
23To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 3 December 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer General Miranda visits Washington chiefly with a design to pay his respects to the President of the United States. He has seen the crowned heads, and courts, and governments, and people of Europe with a microscopic eye, nor have the late changes which the unfortunate issue of the French Revolution have produced among them, lessned his enthusiasm in the cause of liberty. His opinions...
24To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 15 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just now recd your friendly letter, and take the earliest opportunity to express my entire satisfaction with the contents of it. no man could have been nomd. as Mr B Successor that wd. be more agreeable to me than Mr Potter, & had I known before that he was a candidate for the appt I should not have requested it. He will likewise I have no doubt be equally agreeable to all the officers...
25From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 13 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
A considerable time before the reciept of your letter of Apr. 29. it was known here that mr Boudinot intended to retire from the Direction of the mint, & as was expected, immediately. it had therefore been made a question to the members of the administration who should be his successor. it was supposed that the duties of that office required the best mathematical talents which could be found,...
26To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 29 April 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr Boudinot having lately built a house at Burlington in the state of New Jersey, and purposing to remove there with his family in the Course of two months, it is presumed he intends to resign the Directorship of the mint of the United States. Should this be the Case, I have been induced by the wishes of all the Other Officers of the mint, as well as by Other Considerations, to solicit the...
27To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 29 August 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter from Monticello of the 8th of August, was perfectly satisfactory to me. I applied for the private Secretaryship to a supposed English Embassy for my Son, only to gratify his repeated Solicitations to me for that purpose. He is daily acquiring business, and his prospects in his profession (which a Voyage to Europe would have interrupted) are very flattering. He possesses talents and...
28From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 8 August 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 1st. inst. came to hand last night. the embarrasment of answering propositions for office negatively, and the inconveniencies which have sometimes arisen from answering affirmatively, even when the affirmative is intended, has led to the general rule of leaving the answer to be read in the act of appointment or non-appointment whenever either is manifested. I depart from the...
29To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 28 May 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer Dr Anth: Fothergill wishes to do himself the honor of paying his respects to you. He is a relation of the late illustrious Dr John Fothergill, & possesses a large share of his philanthropic disposition. After having acquired wealth & independance at Bath, he has come to spend the evening of his life in our peaceful & flourishing country. He is well informed & amiable, and will duly...
30To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 12 December 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer Dr: Chapman —formerly one of my private pupils, wishes for the honor of your acquaintance. He has just returned from Europe, where he has spent his time profitably in improving himself in every kind of knowledge as well as in medicine. During his residence in Scotland he was not only entertained; but patronized by your friend the Earl of Buchan . He will repay you by his anecdotes...
31From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 4 October 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
No one would more willingly than myself pay the just tribute due to the services of Capt Barry , by writing a letter of condolance to his widow as you suggest. but when one undertakes to administer justice it must be with an even hand, & by rule, what is done for one, must be done for every one in equal degree. to what a train of attentions would this draw a President? how difficult would it...
32To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 5 August 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you herewith Sir John Sinclair’s pamphlet upon Old Age with many thanks. I have read it with pleasure, and subscribe to the truth of most of his opinions. They accord with opinions which I published many years ago in the 2nd Volume of my Medical Inquiries and Observations . I have just finished reading Col: now Sir Robt Wilson’s account of the British Campaign in Egypt. It is well...
33From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 24 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I am thankful to you for your attentions to Capt Lewis while at Philadelphia and the useful counsels he recieved from you. he will set out in about 4. or 5. days, and expects to leave Kaskaskias about the 1st. of September. he will have two travelling months which will probably carry him 7. or 800. miles up the river for his winter quarters, from whence he will communicate to us, in the course...
34To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 11 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I have endeavoured to fulfil your Wishes by furnishing Mr Lewis with some inquiries relative to the natural history of the Indians . The enclosed letter contains a few short directions for the preservation of his health, As well as the health of the persons Under his Command. His mission is truly interesting. I shall wait with great solicitude for its issue. Mr: Lewis appears admirably...
35To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 5 May 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I was made very happy by learning from your letter of the 23rd of April that your disease is less troublesome than formerly. As I know you have no faith in the principles of our Science, I shall from time to time combat your prejudices, and your disease (should it continue) by means of facts . Ever since I began the practice of medicine, I have kept common place books, in which I have recorded...
36From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 23 April 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Your friendly letter of Mar. 12. was recieved in due time and with a due sense of it’s value. I shall with confidence avail myself of it’s general prescription, and of the special should the state of my health alter for the worse. at present it wears a promising aspect. At length I send you a letter, long due, and even now but a sketch of what I wished to make it. but your candour will find my...
37From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 21 April 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798. 99. which served as an Anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then labouring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic: and I then promised you that, one day or other, I would give you my views of it. they are the result of a life of enquiry & reflection, and very different from...
38To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 12 March 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
The Solicitude I felt upon the account of your health , excited by your letter of last summer, is in a great measure removed by the history you have given me of your disease in your favor of the 28th. of February. Chronic diseases even in persons in the decline of life, are far from being incurable, and I have great pleasure in assuring you that complaints of the bowels such as you have...
39From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 28 February 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I wish to mention to you in confidence that I have obtained authority from Congress to undertake the long desired object of exploring the Missouri & whatever river, heading with that, leads into the Western ocean. about 10. chosen woodsmen headed by Capt. Lewis my secretary, will set out on it immediately & probably accomplish it in two seasons. Capt. Lewis is brave, prudent, habituated to the...
40From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 18 March 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night your friendly letter of the 12th. which shall be answered the first practicable moment. in the mean time I send you Latude which I happen to have here. affectionate salutations. RC (Swann Auction Catalogue, sale 2058, New York, 2005); address clipped: “Doctr. Benjamin [Rush]”; franked and postmarked.
41To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 12 March 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Having just finished the labors of the Winter in the University, and hospital, I sit down with great pleasure to acknowledge your favor of Decemr last . One part of it commands my first Attention, and that is your communication of a discovery of a flaw in your Constitution from which you anticipate a certain, but easy passage out of life. Permit me my dear and long respected friend to request...
42From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 20 December 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
I have recieved your favor of Nov. 27. with your introductory lectures which I have read with the pleasure & edification I do every thing from you. I am happy to see that vaccination is introduced & likely to be kept up in Philadelphia. but I shall not think it exhibits all it’s utility until experience shall have hit upon some mark or rule by which the popular eye may distinguish genuine from...
43To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 27 November 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
Accept much honoured & dear sir of a Copy of the enclosed publication. How joyful the Sound of Peace! It brings a thousand blessings in its train, among which the revival & diffusion of knowledge will not I hope be the least. Receive again, and again Assurances of the friendship of Dear sir your Affectionate humble Servant PS: Vaccination as you have happily called it, has taken root in our...
44From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 24 March 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
I have to acknolege the reciept of your friendly favor of the 12th and the pleasing sensations produced in my mind by it’s affectionate contents. I am made very happy by learning that the sentiments expressed in my inaugural address give general satisfaction, and hold out a ground on which our fellow citizens can once more unite. I am the more pleased, because these sentiments have been long &...
45To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 12 March 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
Your Character as a Philosopher & friend of mankind predominates so much more in my mind over that of your new station, that I cannot resist the habit of addressing you as I have done in my former letters. Your new official title has added nothing to my respect for your person. It could not add to my friendship for you. You have opened a new Œra by your Speech on the 4th: of March in the...
46From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 14 December 1800 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly recieved your favor of the 2d. inst. and the melon seeds accompanying it. I shall certainly cherish them, and try whether the climate of Monticello can preserve them without degeneracy. the arrival of Genl. Davie here with the treaty is our only news. mr Elsworth is gone to England, and returns again to France to pass the winter in it’s Southern parts for his health....
47To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 2 December 1800 (Jefferson Papers)
Herewith you will receive the musk melon seed which I promised to send you by a private hand in my last letter , to which I refer you for an Account of the Method of cultivating it. The Seed came originally from Minorca. Receive Once more the Assurances of respect and esteem from Dear Sir your sincere Old friend RC ( NIC ); endorsed by TJ as received 9 Dec. and so recorded in SJL . Last letter...
48To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 6 October 1800 (Jefferson Papers)
I agree with you in your Opinion of Cities. Cowper the poet very happily expresses our ideas of them compared with the Country. “God made the Country—man made Cities.” I consider them in the same light that I do Abscesses on the human body viz: as reservoirs of all the impurities of a Community. I agree with you likewise in your wishes to keep religion and government independant of each Other....
49From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 23 September 1800 (Jefferson Papers)
I have to acknolege the reciept of your favor of Aug. 22. and to congratulate you on the healthiness of your city. still Baltimore, Norfolk & Providence admonish us that we are not clear of our new scourge. when great evils happen, I am in the habit of looking out for what good may arise from them as consolations to us: and Providence has in fact so established the order of things as that most...
50To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, 22 August 1800 (Jefferson Papers)
The following thoughts have lately occurred to me. To whom can they be communicated with so much propriety as to that man, who has so uniformly distinguished himself by an Attachment to republican forms of government? In the Constitution of the United States, titles are wisely forbidden, and pensions for public Services are considered as equally improper by many of our Citizens. There is a...