"To Make a Figure": Benjamin Rush's Rhetorical Self-Construction and Scientific Authorship

Consideration of Rush's rhetorical efforts - while reinforcing claims that Rush's theories of race, madness, temperance, and female education, for example, influenced the discourses of belles lettres during his life as well as throughout the antebellum period -adds to prior studies of Rush that emphasize the social construction of scientific truths, authorship in the early Republic, and writing as a means of healing. The extensive economic details needed to fully explain the financial aspects of Rush's figure as a man of science are beyond the scope of this essay; however, Rush's concern with financial figures does emerge at times in his private writings, and such comments are mentioned here, as they contribute to an understanding of the author's self-construction.