Historical Figures Involved with Yellow Fever in 1793
George Washington 1732-1799
In 1793 George Washington was the first president of the United States. When yellow fever struck Philadelphia he left along with the cabinet. Because of this, government meetings were no longer able to be held in Philadelphia so consequently the capital of the United States was temporarily moved to Germantown. While there, he stayed in the house of Colonel Frank which was later nicknamed the "Germantown White House". During his absence he left power of the diseased city to Mayor Clarkson.
Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826
Thomas Jefferson became the Secretary of State in 1790 and quit in the year 1793, when the government fled Philadelphia. He resigned after a fight with Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury. After their argument they founded separate political parties, known as the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists.
Mayor Clarkson Born October 1733
Mayor Clarkson was left in charge of Philadelphia by George Washington during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793 and he served as the mayor from 1792-1796. During the deadly sickness he transformed Bush Hill Mansion into a quarantine center. He also created a committee that specialized in giving orphans a place to stay, yellow fever victims food and medicine, and burying the deceased.
Dr. Benjamin Rush 1745-1813
Before becoming a doctor, Benjamin Rush studied at Princeton University and trained in Edinburgh, Scotland. He started practicing in 1773. During the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, Dr. Rush had the African church including Richard Allen and Absalom Jones help him with patients. Despite being one of the greatest minds of the time, Rush believed drawing blood would do away with yellow fever, however he was wrong as his theory only killed his patients faster. Rush was an abolitionist and spent his entire life trying to prove that African Americans were not the cause of diseases like yellow fever, but when he died his old student was convincing the public that Rush was wrong, when in fact Rush was correct.
Dr. Jean Deveze
Dr. Deveze, was a french-speaking refugee from Haiti. He believed that the victim should be in the care of nurturing people and should be given plenty of rest. He also gave his patients sweet wine. Many more people survived yellow fever in the care of Deveze as his treatment let the patient regain their strength. Although his theory was proven to be the most effective most Doctors believed he was wrong and insisted that his ideas were insane. Some doctors even believed that the french refugees brought the disease so that might be the cause of the prejudice towards him.
Quakers
The quakers were denied religious freedom in their homeland of England, so William Penn founded the colony Pennsylvania in the New World where they could live in peace without the fear of being thrown in jail. In their religion men and women are created equal and they are both allowed to speak in their sacred meetings. They did a lot for the less fortunate and they refused to fight in any war, which lead some to accuse them of being loyal to the king in the Revolutionary War. They fought for the rights of African Americans, not unlike Dr. Benjamin Rush.
Jean Pierre Blachard
On January 9th 1793, Blanchard made the first ascension in a hydrogen gas balloon in the US or the New World for that matter. He lifted off the ground at 10 in the morning and sold tickets to those who wanted to watch him take flight. He sold the tickets for five dollars each and when they didn't have enough seats for the crowd he sold seats for 2 dollars behind the first set of seats. He departed from the prison yard In Philadelphia. This was a key event in the book.
People that died of Yellow Fever
Louis Moreau Gottschalk- A pianist and composet
Clara Maas- A nurse
Richard A. Proctor- An Astronomer
Benjamin Latrobe- An architect
Charles Frederick Hartt- A Geologist
Joshua Clayton- A Politician and Physician
Thomas Nast- An illustrator, cartoonist, and artist.