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Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 05/18/2025 11:55:49 AM PDT by ProgressingAmerica
Our Founding Fathers left us many wonderful works with which to learn more about their lives and beliefs, many of which are in the form of a multitude of letters written to other people or specific-topic-based works. Perhaps the best well-known topic-based work of the Founders is the Federalist Papers, produced by three Founders over the course of some months.
Benjamin Rush did something different though, producing a short autobiography about his own life. I do believe there are others who had autobiographies as well but I think they were exceedingly rare among the Founding generation.
I suspect very few people have read Rush's autobiography in recent times. With the more convenient method of listening to an audio book, that consumption level will increase and that is a good thing for us all. The more we know about our Founding Fathers and the more (hopefully) we attempt to be like them the better off we are as Americans.
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Thank you very much and God bless you.
Have always loved the bits and excerpts I’ve read of his.
Hopefully the quality of this is sufficient for your tastes. Also, this is free and open source so you can give as many copies as you like to others and its just so much more convenient for people’s busy lives. When we read our Founding Fathers, we do not need to be islands anymore. Islands of knowledge and thus, frustrated because of how few others are willing to make the time. Especially with as deeply important as all of it is.
Some of the works I complete (which are collaborative efforts) I come away thinking that they will be re-created by someone as a solo recording and with most likely much higher quality. Rush’s autobiography is one of those items. I don’t know when but I have a feeling this will be redone solo some day.
Downloaded, looking forward to listening to it!
On that note, I must say that while I may not agree with some of his leftward leanings — Lin Manuel Miranda deserves every accolade for his musical take on Ron Chernow’s Hamilton bio. :)
One of my favorite books I bought from a used bookstore is a collection of written letters and correspondences between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Fascinating friendship. They had their tiffs to be sure — went a decade plus without speaking…only to reconcile…and die on the SAME day.
To think: BOTH died on the 4th of July, 1826…
Benjamin Frankin’s Autobiography is excellent. I read it maybe four decades ago.
“...producing a short autobiography of his own life.”
Paid by the word, are we?
I am not sure what Benjamin Rush may have been paid for his book all those hundreds of years ago.
From reading the journals of Lewis & Clarke I learned that when L&C prepared for their exploration of the northwestern corner of our landmass they included various medicines provided by Dr. Rush. Among these were pills described by the explorers as laxatives to counter frequent constipation. The explorers named them, “Dr. Rush’s Thunderbolts”, apparently because of their powers in counteracting constipation. I find the thought of that situation hillarious. Bwaaaa-haaa-haa!
In “autobiography of his own life,” “of his own life” is a pleonasm.
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