Lincoln the Inventor

In addition to his other accomplishment, Abraham Lincoln was the only U.S. President to hold a registered patent. Jason Emerson offers the first treatment of Lincoln's invention of a device to buoy vessels over shoals and its subsequent patent in May 1849 as more than mere historical footnote. As Emerson demonstrates, Lincoln'S scientific curiosity helped drive his lifelong intellectual development and influenced his treatment of inventors and innovators both as a lawyer and as president.