**Previously recorded by Phyllis Schlafly**
The American Revolution gave us independence and political and religious liberty, but economic conditions had changed very little in thousands of years. Then, suddenly, in the short space of two centuries, America experienced a tremendous explosion of human energy, an expansion of wealth, a rise in living standards that exceeded all the economic changes in the thousands of years that preceded our Constitution. Why did this happen? What made America different was the economic freedom guaranteed by the United States Constitution. The Founding Fathers understood that securing to individual inventors the right to own and market their original ideas is just as much a part of economic freedom as any other personal labor.
Before the United States Constitution, there were no laws that gave an inventor the right to own his invention. Our Founding Fathers wrote into the United States Constitution this uniquely American rule: “The Congress shall have 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.” Almost immediately, inventors started applying for patents. President George Washington signed the Patent Act, which established the uniquely American rule that inventions should be encouraged by guaranteeing to every inventor the exclusive right to his invention for a fixed term of years, after which the public is free to use it.
We’ve seen the spectacular results of this unique section of the U.S. Constitution. America has only five percent of the world’s population, but we have created more new wealth than all other nations in the world combined. Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century drew pictures of his original ideas for an automobile, an airplane, a parachute, and a multi-barrel gun. But his inventions existed only on paper. Only in America could such ideas actually be built, where men are free to invent and to invest in the certainty that they will own the product on which they pour out their talent, skill, and financial resources. That’s why 95 % of the world’s greatest inventions are American.
This post originally appeared at https://phyllisschlafly.com/constitution/the-constitutions-role-in-inventions/
Ryan Hite