RICHARD RUSH - QUESTIONNAIRE SIGNED 07/29/1826 - HFSID 191835

RICHARD RUSH
Questionnaire printed by the U. S. Treasury Department in 1826 regarding the growth and manufacture of silk in Connecticut and signed by Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush. He was U. S. Attorney General under Presidents James Madison and James Monroe, Secretary of the Treasury under President John Quincy Adams, U. S. Minister to Great Britain and France and, for seven months in 1817, Acting Secretary of State under Monroe.
Questionnaire signed: "R. Rush" on verso of third page. 3 page, 7¾x12¾. Treasury Department, July 29, 1826. 17 questions relating to the "Growth and Manufacture of Silk" with "Connecticut" filled in the question blanks and "Duplicate" on page 1, all in unknown hand. This questionnaire is per a resolution passed by the House of Representatives, "The Answers to be transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, on or before the first of December." Rush (1780-1859) was the son of Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was Attorney General of Pennsylvania (1811) before serving as U. S. Attorney General under Presidents James Madison and James Monroe (1814-1817). He was also Monroe's Secretary of State ad interim from March 10, 1817 until Sept. 21, 1817, while newly appointed Secretary of State John Q. Adams was in England. As Secretary of State ad interim, Rush negotiated the Rush-Bagot Treaty with Great Britain, which demilitarized the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain and limited the number of naval vessels there and internal waterways leading to the lakes. When Adams became President in 1825, Rush was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, serving until 1829. He was also U. S. Minister to Great Britain (1817-1825) and France (1847-1849). As U. S. Minister to Great Britain, Rush negotiated the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, which set the U. S./Canadian border between the Lake of the Woods in Minnesota and the Rocky Mountains at the 49th parallel and allowed for joint settlement of the Oregon Territory by the U. S. and Great Britain for 10 years. In 1836, Rush secured a bequest from James Smithsonian in Great Britain for over half a million dollars, which was used to establish the Smithsonian Institution. Signature side is lightly soiled and shaded. ¾-inch vertical slit to left of signature and pinhead-size hole at blank left margin affect all pages (touching 4 words of printed text). 1½-inch separation at upper edge at left vertical fold of signature page. First page is lightly shaded at upper blank margin. Folded twice horizontally and vertically, comes folded twice horizontally. Otherwise in fine condition.