Technically, Lincoln didn’t attend the exhibition, but on this date, October 14, 1861, a committee of commissioners for the industrial exhibition in England visits President Lincoln in the White House and asks use of a government vessel to transport American contributions to the fair. Lincoln had supported United States participation.
Eying an opportunity to showcase American science, Lincoln appointed Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry (an informal science adviser to the President) to yet another Commission, this one organizing American participation in the International Exhibition scheduled for London in 1862. Lincoln approved the Commission’s recommendations in December 1861 and the House Ways and Means Committee endorsed an appropriation of $35,000 for expenses.
Lincoln had always had an eye for scientific and technological advancement, which had been rapid leading up to his nomination. The canal system had opened up the Midwest and railroads were stringing themselves in all directions, creating towns and economies as they spread. Steamships were regular features on the Great Lakes and the great rivers like the Ohio and Mississippi. American reaping machines amazed visitors to the Paris World’s Fair in 1855 with their ability to cut an acre of grain in a third of the time of European models. By 1860, the United States had become the fourth largest manufacturing country in the world. George Perkins Marsh, perhaps America’s first environmentalist, approved of industrialization but also warned of the dangers of deforestation. Marsh began writing his now classic treatise, Man and Nature, as Lincoln accepted the nomination; once President, Lincoln appointed Marsh minister to Italy. Long-standing Whig principles would become part of Lincoln’s presidential platform.
Yet neither the full House nor Senate could pass a bill and the lack of political and financial support discouraged many companies from participating. The lost opportunity probably hackled Lincoln as the Exhibition showcased such industrial advances as the electrical telegraph, submarine cables, and a new thermoplastic called Parkesine, later renamed Celluloid, which became the basis of Thomas Edison’s motion picture film.
Lincoln quickly moved on to other more pressing matters as the Civil War settled into what would be four years of constant turmoil. But the only president with a patent never gave up on his vision of empowering science and technology in the federal government.
[The above is adapted from my forthcoming book due out in 2022]
David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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President Lincoln took a special train to Harpers Ferry on October 1, 1862. I drove my car to the National Park Service visitors center on October 1, 2021. Lincoln reviewed the troops on Bolivar Heights. I climbed to the overlook on Maryland Heights. One hundred and fifty-nine years separated us, but I still felt his presence.
On June 23, 1854, Abraham Lincoln draws on his account at the Illinois Central Railroad. The ICRR had been a repeat source of work for the Lincoln, who had been focusing on his legal career after being relegated to the sidelines politically. He would not be in an elected position for eleven years. He did a variety of work for several railroads, but the ICRR by far was the most prolific and profitable. Still, he wasn’t making much money per case.
On September 10, 1856, Abraham Lincoln wrote an affidavit in a medical malpractice case that involved chicken bones. It was the first medical malpractice case in McLean County.
I see you printed that long letter I sent you a spell ago—I’m quite encouraged by it, and can’t keep from writing again.
On this auspicious date in 1844, Mrs. Lincoln bought material to make corsets. Six yards of “gimp,” which was a strong twisted silk, wool, or cotton (not to be confused with the plastic form of gimp I used in Boy Scouts), along with ample amounts of lace. Presumably she already had whalebone or simply used over-starched fabric for stiffness. As critical as this was for containing the spreading remnants of Robert’s birth the previous year, this was only one of many important events happening on 
On August 17, 1861, Abraham Lincoln witnessed an exhibition of what Lincoln dubbed the “coffee mill gun.” Lincoln was always pushing for modernized weaponry beyond the standard muskets, which were inaccurate and slow to reload. He pushed Ordinance Chief James Ripley to put into service various breechloaders, rifles, carbines, and repeaters.
On August 10, 1863, Abraham Lincoln met with Frederick Douglass in the White House. Douglass had arrived unannounced, accompanied by Kansas Senator Samuel Pomeroy. They found the waiting room filled with people seeking an audience with the president, so Douglass, dressed in a dark suit on this sweltering August morning, assumed he would have a long wait. Instead, Lincoln’s secretary John Hay came quickly out to greet him and usher him into the inner sanctum.
On August 4, 1834, at the age of 25, Abraham Lincoln was elected to the Illinois State Legislature. This was two years after he ran the first time – and lost.
On July 27, 1864, Abraham Lincoln called on Edwin Stanton to increase the pay of women working in the cause of the Civil War. He wrote:
