Free Frank of John Adams to Attorney General Richard Rush

The letter, which appears to be unknown, was quite possibly related to U.S./British relations in the wake of the War of 1812

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Docketed by Rush

Richard Rush began his political career as attorney general for the state of Pennsylvania in 1811. He soon moved into the employ of President James Madison, becoming Comptroller of the Treasury in 1811, and, with the onset of the War of 1812, the administration’s speaker on war policy. By...

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Free Frank of John Adams to Attorney General Richard Rush

The letter, which appears to be unknown, was quite possibly related to U.S./British relations in the wake of the War of 1812

Docketed by Rush

Richard Rush began his political career as attorney general for the state of Pennsylvania in 1811. He soon moved into the employ of President James Madison, becoming Comptroller of the Treasury in 1811, and, with the onset of the War of 1812, the administration’s speaker on war policy. By 1814, he became Attorney General, serving in that capacity until 1817. Rush then went abroad as U.S. minister to Great Britain until 1825. He returned home to become Secretary of the Treasury during the presidency of John Quincy Adams.

In 1815, Rush and John Adams had been carrying on a conversation on the nature of the sovereignty of the United States and the details of the Treaty of Ghent that had just ended the War of 1812. While there seems no record of a letter to Rush from Adams dated September 1815, this free frank shows that there was; and we can conjecture that it relates to the same subject.

Free frank, Quincy, Massachusetts, September 20, 1815, with Adams’ signature and the word “Free” in his hand. The docket on the left is in Rush’s hand, and the Dr. Mease he refers must be Dr. James Meade who was well know in Washington at the time. Perhaps Rush showed Mease the letter from Adams.

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