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Lot 386
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Richard Rush Archive (8) ALS, French Passport, Pay Orders, and More!
Richard Rush Archive (8) ALS, French Passport, Pay Orders, and More!
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Description:

Richard Rush
various, ca. 1823-1851
Richard Rush Archive (8) ALS, French Passport, Pay Orders, and More!
Archive
A small archive of documents and a letter signed by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Minister to France, Richard Rush. Includes an autograph letter signed (dated November 23, 1851), a passport signed from the French Embassy, and two pay orders secretarially signed, together with a related speech by James Buchanan and three portraits of Rush. The letters and documents all have flattened folds, with some separations and small tears in places. All with varying degrees of toning, foxing, and soiling. Please refer to the photographs for further condition information.

Includes:
1. Autograph letter signed "Richard Rush." Philadelphia, dated November 23, 1851. Addressed to [Ashbury] Dickens, Secretary of the U.S. Senate: "With your letter of the 21st came enclosed the manuscript to which you draw my attention with a view to alterations or additions…Your main point is, to let the new Senators understand the ground of official tenure on which the officers of the Senate stand, and the true nature of their duties. This you have done, clearly and succinctly, in your historical review on the first sheet…I suggest the dropping of the paragraph beginning near the top of page 5 and ending on page 6. What you say is quite sound; but selfish ingenuity among fresh and greedy applicants for office would try to torture it, as you hint yourself, into a quasi 'life term'. Of this there have grown up such a horror in our land, that it might be safest to keep as shy of it as possible - not starting the thought but rather jumping over it. I would even avoid (wherever it could be done by the use of other terms to arrive at the same end) the expression 'good behavior'; for this has come, however improperly, to be looked upon as squinting to the life tenure, which our people so much like to rail at…"
2. French Embassy Passport signed "Richard Rice." London, dated September 2, 1823. Printed in French. Issued to Mr. L. Baldwin, granting him safe passage, protection, and assistance during Baldwin's trip to France and Holland. With approximately twenty arrival stamps and countersigned by "J. Adams Smith" as Secretaire de la Legation.
3. Printed "Speech of Mr. Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, on The Ratification of the Treaty with Great Britain, Delivered in the Senate of the United States August 19, 1842." 16pp. With the subscriber's name written at the top of the first page.
4. Two Pay orders secretarially signed "Richard Rush". Both are payments for casework. No. 201: Washington, D.C., dated February 22, 1828, ordering $3625.83 be paid to Edward Livingston. No. 310: Washington, D.C., dated March 19, 1828, ordering $59.00 be paid to Edward Livingston.
5. Three portraits of Richard Rush. The first two are engravings while the third is a photograph of a life mask bust of Rush.

Richard Rush (1780-1859) was an American lawyer and politician who help numerous positions in the U.S. government.
He served as Attorney General of Pennsylvania in 1811 and as Comptroller of the Treasury during the James Madison administration, becoming one of Madison's closest advisers during the War of 1812. Because of their close relationship, Madison elevated Rush to the United States Attorney General in 1814. Rush remained in that position until 1817, at which time he briefly served as the acting Secretary of State. As Secretary of State, he helped negotiate the Rush–Bagot Treaty, which limited naval forces on the Great Lakes. The following year, Rush was made ambassador to Britain and helped negotiate the Treaty of 1818 which set the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, and held discussions with George Canning which ultimately brought about the Monroe Doctrine. Following the end of his tenure as Ambassador to Great Britain in 1825, Rush became U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and was also nominated as John Quincy Adams's running mate on the National Republican ticket during the 1828 United States presidential election. Towards the end of his political career, Rush served as minister to France from 1847 to 1849.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.5" x 11" (largest)
  • Medium: Archive

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