Law and Medicine in Revolutionary America

Linda Myrsiades is professor emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at West Chester University. She has most recently published Medical Culture in Revolutionary America: Feuds, Duels, and a Court Martial (2009).

• AcknowledgmentsIllustrationsProlegomenaThe Trial TranscriptConstructing the PlaintiffThe Republican NarrativeYellow Fever and the Jeremiad NarrativeThe Image of FeverChapter 1: Benjamin Rush and the Culture of MedicineQuacks and FactionsThe Culture of MedicineRush’s TreatmentsDoctors’ WarsChapter 2: Malpractice Law and Benjamin RushMalpractice LawThe Patient’s DutyMedical AuthorityPhysicians and the LawWhitworth and YoungSamuel ThomsonRush and MalpracticeRush’s Decision to ProsecuteChapter 3: William Cobbett and the Scurrilous PressCobbett and the PressPorcupine and StyleTrial by Press SatirePorcupine’s PrintsPress FeudsCobbett’s Attacks on RushSangrado the BleederThe Vintner’s TalesChapter 4: Libel Law and William CobbettLibel CasesEleazer OswaldSedition CasesCobbett and the LawChanges in Legal PracticeThe Venue: The Pennsylvania Supreme CourtFleeing the TrialChapter 5: Sangrado v. the Cloven Foot, the TrialThe Political StoryThe Story of CharacterThe Secular JeremiadThe Contribution of SermonsCobbett’s Self-DefenseChapter 6: The Trial ConcludedThe Judge and the JuryCobbett’s CounselTrial StrategyAfterwordCobbett’s Flight to EnglandThe Death of George WashingtonPeter Porcupine v. Paul PolecatBibliography

In Law and Medicine in Revolutionary America, Linda Myrsiades links Americanism with professionalism and converts medical and legal history into a narrative of the nation. Marshalling a fascinating array of primary sources that includes trial records, press coverage, and personal correspondence, Myrsiades meticulously dissects the 1799 libel trial of Rush v Cobbett. By showing how its legal anatomy embodied the most pressing political and ethical questions of the emerging nation, Myrsiades makes a significant contribution to the study of medicine, law, and the humanities that will appeal to readers across a broad range of disciplines.