![]() He served in the Convention during the French Revolution, though his English birth and lack of support for Louis’ execution eventually got him thrown in prison. Paine remained ever the warrior fighting kings and tyranny. Rush, however, eventually became more conservative in his views, an establishment figure and internationally known physician who yet advocated numerous social reforms, such as the abolition of slavery and an end to capital punishment. Both worked hard for the Patriot cause, both were involved in controversies. The Revolution was a heady time for both men. On the strength of his contributions to the Patriot cause (and, a fact not known by many today, because of Paine’s interest in applied science, including his designing bridges in both England and Philadelphia), Paine was elected to the APS in 1785. An estimated 150,000 copies were printed by various publishers in 1776 alone. Under the title Rush suggested, Bell published Common Sense. Rush suggested a publisher, Robert Bell, a colorful Philadelphian, Scottish by birth and a supporter of independence. According to Rush’s autobiography, Paine brought Rush parts of the pamphlet as they were completed. Rush, aware of Paine’s facility, urged him to write a pamphlet about why separation from England was necessary. They were drawn together because of their strong belief in representative government. In Philadelphia, Paine was hired by printer Robert Aitken, and Paine, as editor of Aiken’s Pennsylvania Magazine, quickly turned the periodical around with the then-innovative approach of publishing American-created content, much written by Paine. One piece of good fortune was that a commissioner of excise convinced Benjamin Franklin to write a letter of introduction Franklin likely recognized Paine’s writing ability. Portrait of Benjamin Rush by Thomas Sully. He had written his first political tract, participated in local affairs and almost certainly read such free thinkers as Joseph Priestley, but when he decided to emigrate, he was without a job, without a family and nearly broke. He filed for official separation from his second wife. He was eventually rehired but fired again for absenteeism. He was fired from a government post in the excise office. Some years earlier, his first wife died in childbirth. In 1774 Thomas Paine arrived in America a failure. Rush was strongly republican and among those who supported separating from England as did his friends John Adams, David Rittenhouse, and Samuel Adams. He’d met Franklin in England and was an active member of the APS. ![]() But he had an appointment as chemistry professor at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). After a medical apprenticeship in Philadelphia, he earned a medical degree in Edinburgh in 1768, then perhaps Europe’s most prestigious medical school, and began his medical practice in Philadelphia, largely at this point among poorer citizens. In 1774 Benjamin Rush was clearly a man on the move. Benjamin Rush had been a Member of the APS for six years when he met Thomas Paine.
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