Patenting an Invention as a Free Black Man in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

With recent patent law decisions today still citing from Justice Taney’s patent opinions from the nineteenth century, it is imperative that the historical context with which these opinions were written is understood. This Comment will address each aspect to patent inventorship laid out above. First, this Comment will discuss the evolution of property and patent rights as it was later used against the abolition movement of the nineteenth century. Second, this Comment will describe: the importance of the inventions of free black men, and the knowledge and strength that Henry E. Baker’s significant record keeping provided for the black community. Finally, this article will highlight the importance of understanding the complex historical context with which the patent laws of the United States developed because the Supreme Court continues to cite patent jurisprudence from the antebellum period without context of the intimate oppression to inventors’ property and patent rights.