On November 9th, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as president of the United States of America. In the US Patent office Rufus Rhodes, an employee from Mississippi, wrote to the governor of his state to express his dismay at the election.
"I cannot with my views hold office under a republican President a single instance of time without a total sacrifice of my self-respect. To do it would involve not only a loss of my own self-respect, but brand me as a disgraced and dishonored man in the estimation of all for whose good opinion I am anxious – namely the southern people. I regard the election of Lincoln as a verdict against the equality of the southern states on the part of the sectional majority of the north...."
Rhodes left Washington D.C., probably before Lincoln was sworn into office and went into the newly formed Confederate States of America. On March 4, 1861 the provisional Congress of the Confederate States authorized the filing of patents utilizing the same language as the United States Constitution. The Confederate Patent Office was created and Rufus Rhodes was appointed it commissioner. Quickly Rhodes created the Rules of Practice and Procedure following the standards set forth by the United States with only a few changes. First, the Confederate Patent office would allow the revival of US Patents in the Confederate office. Second aliens were permitted to apply for and receive patents provided their government had recognized the Confederate States of America and was on good relations with them. With this provision Yankees were barred from receiving patents. Finally, if the invention was made by a slave, their master would receive the patent instead.
The new office became busy quickly as inventors were proud to patent their new creations to speed the success of the war effort. The first patent was for a breech loading gun, another famous one was for the CSS Virginia, the Confederate Ironclad. Throughout the short life of the Confederate Patent Office Rhodes would be a force to maintain order. When it was proposed in 1863 that the patent office simply record all patents and not verify their authenticity Rhodes wrote against the change successfully.
"By making the Patent Office an office of record merely, patents would be granted to all applicants indiscriminately, and endless confusion, conflict and litigation, would inevitably result."
As the war reached its conclusion the patent office ceased operations just as most Confederate offices did. When Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled Richmond he took the government's records including some of the patents. Those left behind were burned by US General Grants troops when they site fire the the building that housed them. The remaining records that traveled with Davis were used as made-do newspaper material since paper was in short supply in the south. Unfortunately those documents are now lost to history, the only surviving copies were those held by the patent owners.
-Professor Walter
Read more about the Confederate Patent Office here
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