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—— ON THIS DAY ——
JULY 31, 1790
New York City, USA
235 years ago
The first US patent — granted on July 31, 1790, to Samuel Hopkins for an improved method of making potash, personally signed by President George Washington, Attorney General Edmund Randolph, and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.
On July 31, 1790, the United States issued its first patent, a single sheet of parchment granted to Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont, for an improved method of making potash — a substance used in soap, glass, and gunpowder, and a significant export of the early American economy. The patent was personally signed by President George Washington, Attorney General Edmund Randolph, and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. It was the first patent issued under the Patent Act passed by Congress earlier that year, and it inaugurated a system that has now granted over twelve million patents.
The framers of the Constitution had considered patents important enough to mention specifically in Article I, Section 8, empowering Congress 'to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.' This was unusual — most powers of Congress were stated in general terms — and it reflected the founders' shared belief that protecting intellectual property would encourage the innovation needed to build a prosperous new nation.
—— MARQUEE EVENT ——
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) — the federal agency descended from the patent system established by the 1790 Patent Act, which now examines and issues approximately 350,000 patents per year.
The 1790 Patent Act required that patent applications be personally reviewed by a board consisting of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney General — three of the most senior officials of the federal government. Thomas Jefferson, in particular, took the role seriously, reading applications, performing experiments to verify claims, and personally signing each granted patent. As the workload grew (57 patents were granted in the first three years), this system proved unworkable, and a new Patent Act in 1793 shifted to a registration-based system that no longer required active examination. Examination was reintroduced in 1836, with the establishment of the modern Patent Office.
The American patent system, despite many criticisms over the centuries, is widely credited as a significant factor in the country's industrial development. By allowing inventors — including, for the first time in any major nation, ordinary citizens rather than only members of the aristocracy or recipients of royal favor — to claim and license rights to their inventions, the system created incentives for invention that drove the rapid technological development of the nineteenth century. Many of the great American inventors — Edison, Bell, the Wright brothers, countless others — built their commercial careers on patent rights.
The patent system has, however, generated continuous controversy throughout its history. Critics argue that patents can stifle innovation by allowing existing players to lock up technological progress; that the patent office has become overwhelmed and grants too many low-quality patents; that 'patent trolls' acquire patents purely to extract licensing fees rather than to develop products; and that the system disadvantages smaller players who cannot afford the legal costs of enforcement. These debates have intensified in the era of software, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence — fields where the boundaries of what can be patented are genuinely contested. From the single parchment granted to Samuel Hopkins, the system has grown into a vast and complex apparatus that shapes much of the modern economy.
—— WHY THIS MATTERS ——
The 1790 Patent Act established the legal framework for intellectual property in the United States, with vast subsequent consequences. The Act and the system it created have shaped American economic development for over two centuries. The idea that ordinary citizens could claim ownership of their inventions — a democratization of intellectual property that had no real precedent in 1790 — proved fundamental to the country's emergence as a center of technological innovation.
The personal involvement of Washington, Jefferson, and Randolph reflects how seriously the founders took intellectual property. That three of the most senior officials in the federal government personally reviewed and signed every patent — at least until the workload made this impossible — demonstrates that the founders viewed the protection of invention as a core function of the new state. The signatures on Samuel Hopkins's parchment are a remarkable artifact of how directly the founders engaged with the practical machinery of government.
The ongoing debates about the patent system are central to modern economic policy. Questions about patent quality, software patents, gene patents, pharmaceutical pricing, and 'patent trolls' remain among the most contested questions in technology and economic policy. The system Hopkins's potash patent helped found is one of the most consequential and most criticized institutions of the modern economy.
—— THE TAKEAWAY ——
On July 31, 1790, the President, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State personally signed a piece of parchment granting a Vermont man exclusive rights to make potash a particular way. It was the first US patent. The system it founded has since issued over twelve million patents, shaped American industry, and become the subject of unending controversy. Samuel Hopkins's potash is where it started.
—— QUOTE OF THE DAY ——
"To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."
— United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8 — the constitutional basis for the patent system
—— OUR QUIZ OF THE DAY ——
How much do you know about the first US patent, the Patent Act of 1790, the personal involvement of Washington, Jefferson, and Randolph, and the development of the American patent system over the past 235 years?
