Jul 22

Jul 22 The Poorly Received Social Critique of Rebecca Rush

While researching yesterday’s Founder, Jacob Rush, I ran into the story of his daughter.

Rebecca Rush is a woman who we know very little about but her book, Kelroy, is an interesting view of social climbing in Philadelphia at the onset of the War of 1812.

SPOILER ALERT: I will be discussing the contents of Kelroy in this article.

Rebecca Rush

Rebecca Rush is a mysterious character in the history of the United States.

Though it appears she was born in 1779, there is no agreed upon date of her death.

What we can confirm is that she grew up in Philadelphia with her father, Jacob Rush, an important justice in the State Courts and her mother, Polly, a portrait artist of some renown.

The one thing we know about Rebecca herself is that she wrote a book...Kelroy.

Kelroy

Kelroy is a novel about three women, a mother and two daughters.

The mother pretends to be wealthier than she actually is and attempts to marry her girls off to rich men.

One daughter goes along happily but the other (Emily) falls in love with a young man (Kelroy) who does not have quite the amount of money the mother was hoping for.

The mother successfully schemes to break the two up and as her machinations are slowly revealed heartbreak ensues and every character of note dies.

Little Fanfare

Rebecca Rush’s book was met with little success, which seems to be due to the fact that it was released just as the War of 1812 broke out and the general public was more concerned with reading war news than novels criticizing Philadelphia society.

Interestingly, arguments have been made that Rush was affected by the Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility which was published the year before.

This makes a lot of sense (see what I did there) as the two books cover essentially the same topics, with Rush’s work coming off as a bit more direct accusatory.

Social Criticism

Kelroy is fascinating to read, as it takes a deep dive into the social hierarchy of early 19th century Philadelphia.

Despite having removed the titles of nobility from American Government (see: the Constitution), the class system present in Rebecca’s Philadelphia is still prevalent. Changes had been made, like the manumitting of slaves, but climbing the social ladder was still important to most citizens.

While this story is still heard from time to time in the United States today, it is not quite so life and death as it was during Rush’s day.

Kelroy attacks the society Rebecca was living in head-on.

Want to learn more about the Rush Family?

Check out these fun stories:

Dr. Benjamin Rush - The Father of American Psychiatry

Transcribing Independence for Washington - Jacob Rush

Rebecca Rush is yet another Founder that does not have a biography.

However, his uncle, Benjamin, has several. The one I’ve read most recently is ‘Rush.’

If you’d like a copy you can get one through the Amazon affiliate link below (you’ll support this site, but don’t worry, Amazon pays me while your price stays the same).