Benjamin Rush - Signer of the Declaration

Quotes

Benjamin Rush, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, George W. Corner, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press for the American Philosophical Society, 1948), p. 165

"The Gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation of life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!"

The First Report of the Bible Society Established at Philadelphia; Read before the Society at their Annual Meeting, May 1, 1809 (Philadelphia: Printed by Order of the Society; Fry and Kammerer, Printers, 1809),pp. 9-11

"Some hundreds of families are now in possession of a Bible . . . which never had one before. . . . The institution of a Bible Society in this place, therefore, must be considered an auspicious event. And the Managers. . . . conclude this report by declaring it to be not only the object of their prayers, but their hopes, that before the present generation shall have passed away, the Holy Scriptures will be read by all the principal nations under heaven: And thus the way be opened for the fulfillment of the prediction of the prophet, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” [Habakkuk 2:14]"

Benjamin Rush, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, George W. Corner, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press for the American Philosophical Society, 1948), pp. 339-340

"It would seem as if one of the designs of Providence in permitting the existence of so many sects [denominations] of Christians was that each sect might be a depository of some great truth of the Gospel, and that it might by that means be better preserved. Thus, to the Catholics and Moravians he has committed the Godhead of the Savior, hence they worship and pray to Him; to the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Baptist Church, the decrees of God and partial redemption [the doctrine that not all will be saved]; . . . to the Quakers, the Godhead and influences of the Holy Spirit; to the Unitarians, the humanity of our Savior, or the doctrine of “God manifested in the flesh” or the “Word made flesh.”. . . Let the different sects of Christians not only bear with each other, but love each other for this kind display of God’s goodness whereby all the truths of their Religion are so protected that none of them can ever become feeble or be lost. . . . However strange it may appear, it is highly probable that an enlightened and inquiring Christian knows more of the whole will of God and of the subjects of the Gospel than any one of the historians, prophets, or Apostles, whose writings are recorded in the Old and New Testaments. Each of them saw things only in part."

Tidbits

Benjamin Rush was co-founder and vice-president of the Philadelphia Bible Society. The first Bible society in America.

Benjamin Rush helped to found “The First Day Society” which is responsible for America’s first Sunday Schools.

Bio

Congressional Biographical Directory

RUSH, Benjamin, a Delegate from Pennsylvania; born in Byberry Township, near Philadelphia, Pa., January 4, 1746; educated under private tutors and at a private school in Nottingham, Md.; was graduated from Princeton College in 1760; studied medicine in Philadelphia, Edinburgh, London, and Paris, and commenced practice in Philadelphia in August 1769; held several professorships in the Philadelphia Medical College; Member of the Continental Congress in 1776 and 1777; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; entered the Revolutionary Army as surgeon general of the Middle Department in April 1777; made physician general in July 1777; resigned in February 1778; resumed the practice of medicine; delegate to the Pennsylvania ratification convention, 1787; founder of the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia; president of the Philadelphia Medical Society; vice president and one of the founders of the Philadelphia Bible Society; one of the founders of Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pa.; assisted in the establishment of the Philadelphia dispensary in 1786; treasurer of the United States Mint at Philadelphia from 1799 until his death in that city April 19, 1813; interment in Christ Church Burying Ground.

George Ross - Signer of the Declaration

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George Ross was the son of a clergyman by the same name, who presided over the Episcopal church at New Castle, in the state of Delaware.

George Ross' nephew's wife was Betsy Ross who is said to have sewn the first American flag.

Bio

Congressional Biographical Directory

ROSS, George, a Delegate from Pennsylvania; born in New Castle, Del., May 10, 1730; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1750 and commenced practice in Lancaster, Pa.; member of the colonial assembly 1768-1776; delegate to the State convention in 1774; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1777; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; appointed judge of the court of admiralty for Pennsylvania in April 1779 and served in that capacity until his death near Philadelphia, Pa., July 14, 1779; interment in Christ Church Burying Ground, Philadelphia, Pa.

Caesar Rodney - Signer of the Declaration

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Rodney was in Dover attending to Loyalist activity in Sussex County when he received word from Thomas McKean that he and George Read were deadlocked on the vote for independence. To break that deadlock, Rodney rode eighty miles through a thunderstorm on the night of July 1, 1776, dramatically arriving in Philadelphia "in his boots and spurs" just as the voting was beginning. He voted with McKean and thereby caused Delaware to join eleven other states voting in favor of the Declaration of Independence. -- From: Wikipedia

This ride is depicted on the 1999 Delaware Quarter.

Bio

Congressional Biographical Directory

RODNEY, Caesar, (brother of Thomas Rodney, uncle of Caesar Augustus Rodney, and cousin of George Brydges Rodney), a Delegate from Delaware; born in Dover, Del., October 7, 1728; completed preparatory studies; engaged in agricultural pursuits; high sheriff of Kent County 1755-1758; justice of the peace; judge of all lower courts; captain in the Kent County Militia in 1756; superintendent of the printing of Delaware currency in 1759; member of the State assembly 1762-1769; superintendent of the loan office in 1769; associate justice of the Delaware Supreme Court 1769-1777; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1776; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; served in the Revolutionary Army as a brigadier general; elected President of Delaware and served from 1778 to 1782; elected to the Continental Congress in 1782 and 1783 but did not serve; died in Dover, Del., June 26, 1784; interment on his farm, “Byfield,” near Dover; reinterment in Christ Churchyard, Dover, Del.

George Read - Signer of the Declaration

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George Read became the president of the Delaware constitutional convention and helped direct the Delaware Constitution of 1776. The following is one of the requirements for public officials.

"Everyone appointed to public office must say: 'I do profess faith in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God & blessed forevermore. And I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration.'"

Bio

Congressional Biographical Directory

READ, George, a Delegate and a Senator from Delaware; born near North East, Cecil County, Md., September 18, 1733; completed preparatory studies; studied law; admitted to the bar and began practice in New Castle, Del., in 1752; attorney general for lower Delaware 1763-1774; member, provincial assembly 1765-1777; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1777; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; president of the State constitutional convention in 1776; vice president of the State under this constitution; member, State house of representatives 1779-1780; judge of the United States Court of Appeals in admiralty cases 1782; representative at the Annapolis convention 1786; delegate from Delaware to the Federal Constitutional Convention; elected to the United States Senate in 1789, reelected in 1790, and served from March 4, 1789, to September 18, 1793, when he resigned, having been appointed chief justice of Delaware; served as chief justice until his death in New Castle, Del., September 21, 1798; interment in Immanuel Churchyard.

John Penn - Signer of the Declaration

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Bio

Congressional Biographical Directory

PENN, John, (nephew of Edmund Pendleton and cousin of Nathaniel Pendleton), a Delegate from North Carolina; born near Port Royal, Caroline County, Va., May 17, 1741; was educated under private tutors; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1762 and commenced practice in Bowling Green, Caroline County, Va.; moved to Granville County, N.C., in 1774; elected to the Provincial Congress which met in Hillsboro, N.C., in August 1775; Member of the Continental Congress 1775-1780; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; one of the three representatives from North Carolina to ratify the Articles of Confederation on behalf of the State; member of board of war in North Carolina in 1780; receiver of taxes for North Carolina in 1784; resumed the practice of law; died near Williamsboro, Granville County, N.C., September 14, 1788; interment on his estate in Granville County, N.C.; reinterment at Guilford Battle Grounds, near Greensboro, N.C., in 1894.