Benjamin Rush (January 4, 1746 [O.S.

December 24, 1745] – April 19, 1813) is a Founding Father of the United States.

Rush lives in the state of Pennsylvania and is a physician, writer, educator, humanitarian and a Christian Universalist, as well as the founder of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Rush is a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and attends the Continental Congress.

He serves as Surgeon General in the Continental army, and advocates the removal of George Washington as General.

Later in life, he becomes a professor of chemistry, medical theory, and clinical practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

Despite having a wide influence on the development of American government, he is not as widely known as many of his American contemporaries.

Rush is also an early opponent of slavery and capital punishment.

Despite his great contributions to early American society, Rush may be more famous today as the man who, in 1812, helped reconcile the friendship of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams by encouraging the two former Presidents to resume writing to each other.