To John Jay from Benjamin Rush, 9 July 1796
From Benjamin Rush
[Philadelphia July 9th: 1796:]
Dear Sir!
The bearer of this letter is Caleb Lownes—a respectable Merchant1 of our city, and a gentleman to whom the science of Morals, and humanity owe great obligations.— He visits your city in Order to impart to the Commissioners for building your penitentiary house, the result of his experience in the Construction and government of our own. Your station, but what are more, your principles & feelings will I am sure induce you to afford him the patronage of your name.— May the success of his mission add to the honor of your Administration of the Government of New York!—2
With best wishes for your public and private happiness, and Comp [limen]ts: to Mrs Jay in which my dear Mrs Rush joins I am Dr Sir your sincere friend
Benjn: Rush
ALS, NNC (EJ: 09453).
1. Caleb Lownes (1754–1828), a Philadelphia Quaker and merchant, served as a charter member of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons and sat on the Board of Inspectors for the Pennsylvania State Prison, a converted jail located on Philadelphia’s Walnut Street that opened in 1795.
2. Lownes’s endeavors to reform Pennsylvania’s penal code influenced similar measures proposed by Thomas Eddy (1758–1827), a fellow Quaker merchant and philanthropist residing in New York City. Working closely with state senators Philip Schuyler and Ambrose Spencer, Eddy helped to craft the bill passed in March 1796 that diminished the use of capital punishment and established Newgate Prison. He then served as the first agent, or warden, for the institution. , 11–13. For more on the establishment of this institution, see the editorial note “Crime and Punishment in Federalist New York”, above, and Proclamation on the Completion of the State Prison [25 Nov. 1797], below.
Interstate cooperation regarding penal reform and the rise of state prisons continued during JJ’s administration. In mid-1800, James Monroe, then governor of Virginia, requested information regarding Newgate Prison. JJ to Robert Bowne, 2 June 1800, ALS, NNC (EJ: 09005); JJ to Monroe, 3 June 1800, Dft, NNC (EJ: 09006); JJ to Monroe, 14 June 1800, C, CSt (EJ: 05145).