Richard Rush

Richard Rush concluded the exchange of notes that limited British and American naval forces on the Great Lakes in 1817. Acting as Secretary of State, he answered Charles Bagot’s note of 28 April on the following day. Each government accepted limits on the number, size, and armament of its vessels and agreed to dismantle the remaining armed vessels on the lakes. Bagot spoke for Britain; Canada was not yet an independent party to the agreement. ¹

Rush had been Attorney General before serving as acting Secretary of State from March to September 1817. He then became the United States minister to Britain, presenting his credentials in February 1818 and remaining until 1825. His later appointment to France lasted from 1847 to 1849. When the French monarchy fell in 1848, he presented new credentials to the republican government. ^{2, 3}

Between those diplomatic postings, Rush served as Secretary of the Treasury under John Quincy Adams. He defended the Second Bank of the United States as the government’s depository, supported protective tariffs, and improved the department’s collection of commercial statistics. ⁴