Legal Monopoly.

The U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8) provided for federal patents on inventions, and in 1790 Congress passed the first patent law, which granted to an inventor, for a period of fourteen years, the exclusive right to make or sell the invention covered by the patent. Some of the Founding Fathers were unsure that federal protection of inventions was a good idea. Benjamin Franklin believed that the inventor should freely give his ideas to society, and, true to his word, he never patented his famous Franklin Stove. But Franklin could afford to give his ideas for free, as could Thomas Jefferson, another inventor who never sought a patent. Jefferson was reluctant to see the government grant monopolies, but it became clear that inventors needed legal protection for their technological innovations.

First Patents.

Thomas Jefferson, as secretary of state, served as the first administrator of the...