| On This Day in American History |
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On May 22, 1849, future President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats over shoals and other obstructions in a river, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent. The idea for the lift boat likely came to Lincoln after moving good by flatboat along the Mississippi River. This photo shows a patent model of Lincoln’s invention, which was never actually built. |
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