Rush, Benjamin (1747–1813)

Barbara Belbot

Dr. Benjamin Rush was one of the most prominent charter members of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, later known as the Pennsylvania Prison Society. Founded in 1787 by 37 distinguished and successful Philadelphia citizens, including Benjamin Franklin, the society was formed to address the problems of criminal punishment and incarceration in the new nation. Dr. Rush's signature topped the list of charter members entered on the first page of the minutes of the society's initial meeting. Rush was born outside of Philadelphia in 1747. His early boarding school experience under the tutelage of Reverend Samuel Finley combined with his college years at the College of New Jersey (Princeton), presided over by Presbyterian minister Samuel Davis, to imbue in him a religious fervor that emphasized the need to serve the common good and that attributed many of society's problems to moral failings. At the University of ...

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