Because Rush had such high hopes for the Revolution, his disillusionment was especially profound. By the early nineteenth century, his letters were filled with despair. He looked back “with deep regret” at all his public efforts on behalf of the Revolution. As “for our Constitution? I cannot meet with a man who loves it.” He felt “like a stranger” in his native land. The Revolution had changed “the principles and morals” of the people and had allowed government everywhere to fall “into the hands of the young and ignorant and needy part of the community.”
