“Receive the olive branch”: Benjamin Rush as Reconciler in the Early Republic

An important and underappreciated legacy of Doctor Benjamin Rush is his capacity as reconciler in the founding era—and not just in his late-in-life role in reuniting John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Persuasion, diplomacy, and the art of compromise may not be what first come to mind as descriptors for Benjamin Rush, but they were qualities of his carefully cultivated training and formative experience. His position as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, social and educational reformer, and leading medical practitioner of his day is well known. While his reconciling impulse can be understood as a manifestation of the culture of sympathy and sensibility in the early republic, Rush’s conciliatory nature was informed by a wide variety of factors, including his ardent Christianity, the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment on his education and medical training, his commitment to a particular vision of republicanism, and his fundamental belief in the harmony of peace. His notions of reconciliation grew out of a vision of viable and virtuous republican conduct that colored the way he saw individual and social relations between people he deemed to be good republicans. In serving as a mediator or bridge builder for others in specific situations, he reaped the benefits of enhanced reputation for himself as well. This essay will show the contexts in which Rush can be remembered as conciliator in the early republic and the possible lessons about friendship and reconciliation they offer in a highly charged ideological environment where courage is needed to be an active citizen and custodian of common ground. Just as Rush the physician spent his career healing ailing bodies, he also sought to heal relationships in the body politic and hold tensions in life-giving ways. Exploring a neglected aspect of his life, this essay demonstrates Rush’s strength as a reconciler of fractured friendships and as a bridge builder in the early republic.