On March 17, 1863, President Lincoln and his wife, Mary, tour the Patent Office. Lincoln is no stranger to the Patent Office. His own patent model resides there, for Patent No. 6469, “an improved method of getting vessels over shoals.” He took his son, Robert, there when he was a Congressman.
Also as a Congressman, Lincoln often assisted other Illinoisans get patents for their inventions. Lincoln wrote to Amos Williams, for example, telling him to send a description and drawing of his invention, along with $20 for the filing fee. Williams had sent a model, but reminded him that “nothing can be done…without having a description of your invention. You perceive the reason for this.” Similarly, Lincoln visits the Patent Office to inquire about an application for a patent by Jesse Lynch of Magnolia. “They tell me that no patent has [been] issued to any body,” Lincoln informs Lynch, “on any application made as late as the first of July last.”
On this day, however, the visit is more leisurely. He seems to be on a mission to find a suitable gift for foreign dignitaries. The New York Herald reports:
“This temple of American genius has lately received additions . . . Mrs. Lincoln, with characteristic unselfishness, has sent from the White House a splendid variety of the presents of the Kings of Siam and the Tycoon of Japan. Among the most noticeable is a suit of Japanese armor . . . for which the Knight of La Mancha would have given his boots. . . . The President and Mrs. Lincoln seemed to enjoy greatly this respite from the cares of State among so many interesting objects.”
Lincoln and Mary would return to the Patent Office several times for events raising money for organizations taking care of wounded soldiers. The Patent Office was commonly used for such events as it was one of very few locations with enough open space for large gatherings, outside the White House. On March 6, 1865, the President and Mrs. Lincoln attend the inaugural ball at the Patent Office. The Evening Star notes that:
“Mrs. Lincoln . . . wore a white silk skirt and bodice, an elaborately-worked white lace dress over the silk skirt . . . The President was dressed in black, with white kid gloves. . . . Shortly after midnight the Presidential party were escorted to the supper room.” After dinner, “President Lincoln and party withdrew about one o’clock . . . It is estimated that not less than four thousand persons were present at this ball.”
Today, the Patent Office is now the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. I spent many a lunchtime inside its inner atrium. Inside rests the official portrait of Abraham Lincoln and all past Presidents through Barack Obama. Perhaps Lincoln is the light shining down through the atrium’s glass ceiling. Lincoln would have felt comfortable in that building.
David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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How much practical or formal science and/or mathematics education did Lincoln receive? Clearly, he was well-educated and articulate. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about his educational background.
Not much in the way of formal mathematical education, but a lot more than people think. Then there is the self-study. The second chapter of my new book is “Educating Lincoln,” with an emphasis on mathematical and scientific learning (mostly practical), including astronomy.
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