Foreword to the Second Edition

• Author: Pat Choate
• Pages: 6-9

FBETW01 12/13/2010 11:15:3 Page 7

Foreword to the

Second Edition

The three most important developments in world history, according

to Abraham Lincoln, were the perfection of printing, the discov-

ery of America, and the introduction of patent laws.

Printing allowed the widespread communication of ideas across

time and space. The discovery of America unveiled a vast continent of

resources and had produced a uni que form of governm ent where, for

the first time in world history, people governed themselves. ‘‘The patent

system,’’ Lincoln said, ‘‘added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius.’’

Lincoln’s appreciation of patent laws reflected that of George Wash-

ington and the other founding fathers of the United States. The framers

of the Constitution, of which Washington was the most prominent, put

into that document a simple 32-word provision that has been the foun-

dation of U.S. progress for more than two centuries:

The Congress shall h ave power 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 is the only place in the body of the Constitution where the

word right exists. The rights to engage in free speech, own a gun, peti-

tion the government, and not incriminate yourself, among others, were

enacted later as constitutional amendments.

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