Benjamin Rush

Thomas Hospital. While in London, Dr. Rush met and became friends with Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin taught Dr. Rush many things and would later finance a trip to Paris for him, where Dr. Rush could listen to and learn from the French physicians, scientists, and literati (Benjamin Rush, 1). .
             In 1769, Benjamin Rush moved back to Philadelphia and set up his practice there. He was almost immediately voted to be the professor of chemistry at the University of Philadelphia (Sullivan, 72-73). Rush also wrote patriotic articles about colonial rights for the newspapers. In 1774 Benjamin Rush helped to organize the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and continually wrote articles against the British for the press. Soon he became associated with patriot leaders such as Thomas Paine, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. In early 1776, Benjamin Rush married Julia Stockton, daughter of Richard Stockton, a member of the Continental Congress. Dr. Rush and Julia had thirteen children together. In June of 1776, Rush was voted to the Provincial Congress, where he was an advocate in declaring independence, then in July was made part of the Continental Congress and thus became a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Malone, 228).  .
             About a year later in 1777, the Continental Congress voted Benjamin Rush to be Surgeon General of the middle department of the Continental Army. While a  .
             surgeon in the army, Benjamin Rush was in constant attendance of the wounded at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and during the sickness at Valley Forge. Through all this, he still found time to write long public letters speaking out against the Articles of Confederation of 1776, urging changes on the ground of the dangers of giving legislative powers to a single house. In February 1778, he resigned from his military post, due to wrongs that he believed had been done to the soldiers in regards to the hospital's care and treatment of patients.