The Founding Father of American Medicine: Benjamin Rush
Release Date: 12/30/2025
447 The Other Committee Members: Robert R. Livingston, Roger Sherman, and the Declaration of Independence
Ben Franklin's World
Five men served on the Continental Congress’s Declaration Committee. We know three of them well: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. But who were the other two? In this episode, we explore the lives and contributions of Robert R. Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. Historians Geoff Benton and Michael Morand join us as we uncover the stories of the other Committee members. Clermont State Historic Site Show Notes: EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00:00 Introduction 00:04:46 The Lee Resolution and the Committee of Five 00:05:26 Robert R. Livingston's Early...
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446 The Declaration of Independence at 250
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445 How Independence Happened, Pt 3: The Articles of Confederation
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444 How Independence Happened, Part 2: The Model Treaty
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Declaring independence on July 2, 1776, was only the beginning. To actually become a nation, the United States needed something else: foreign allies, international recognition, and the credibility to negotiate as an equal among the world's great powers. Five days after Richard Henry Lee introduced his famous Virginia Resolution, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five — John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, Robert Morris, and Benjamin Harrison — to figure out how to achieve international recognition. The result was the Model Treaty: a document we almost never...
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443 How Independence Happened, Part 1: The Lee Resolution
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442 Everyday Military Life in the American Revolution
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441 The Escapes of David George
Ben Franklin's World
When David George lay sick with smallpox in Savannah during the Revolutionary War, he faced three possible outcomes: death, re-enslavement, or freedom. , Professor of History at UC Santa Cruz, follows David George across six decades and three continents, from enslaved Virginia to the Muscogee Creek nation, and from British-occupied Georgia to Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone, in his new book, . It's a story that will change how you think about what the Revolution actually delivered, and for whom. Greg’s | Show Notes: EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:14 Welcome to...
info_outlineBenjamin Rush was one of early America’s most fascinating figures. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a leading Philadelphia physician, and a thinker who believed that a healthy body was the foundation of a healthy republic.
In this episode, historian Sarah Naramore, author of Benjamin Rush, Civic Health and Human Illness in the Early American Republic, introduces us to Rush as both doctor and political philosopher.
We’ll explore:
- How Rush developed an “American system” of medicine
- His groundbreaking ideas on mental health and addiction
- And why he believed the human body modeled the ideal form of government.
Rush may be what Sarah calls a “B-list Founding Father,” but his influence on early American science, politics, and public health was anything but minor.
Sarah’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/430
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:06 Episode Introduction
00:04:48 Who Was Benjamin Rush
00:13:52 Benjamin Rush's Medical Practice
00:17:01 The American System of Medicine
00:22:30 Rush's Ideas about Civic Health
00:29:07 Rush's Approach to Mental Health
00:33:53 Rush's Views on Addiction
00:48:00 Rush's Legacy
00:52:13 Time Warp
00:55:00 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 174: Yellow Fever in the Early American Republic
🎧 Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Adams & Jefferson
🎧 Episode 263: The Medical Imagination
🎧 Episode 279: Benjamin Rush, Founding Father
🎧 Episode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1
🎧 Episode 302: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 2
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