biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1780–1859)
|
| biography:
| Lawyer and diplomat, born in Philadelphia, USA, the son of Benjamin Rush. He studied at the college of New Jersey (now Princeton) (1797). Admitted to the bar (1800), he was the attorney-general for Pennsylvania (1811), comptroller of the US treasury (1811–14), and US attorney general (1814–17). Briefly secretary of state (1817), he negotiated the Rush–Bagot Agreement (which prohibited fortifications on the Great Lakes). As ambassador to Britain (1817–25), he was both well-liked and effective, settling issues resulting from the War of 1812 and the disputed Oregon territory, and he also played an important role in setting forth the Monroe Doctrine. He was secretary of the treasury (1825–9), and after unsuccessfully running for vice-president on the ticket of John Quincy Adams, in 1828 he retired from political life for many years. In 1836–8 he was in England as a lawyer who helped to secure the bequest of James Smithson that set up the Smithsonian Institution. He returned to public service to serve as ambassador to France (1847–9). |
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