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Original Exhibition Caption: FDR had two important motives for acquiring this 1798 patent for his personal collection. It was issued to his distant ancestor, Nicholas James Roosevelt, and it bears the signatures of President John Adams, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, and Attorney General Charles Lee. There was no federal government patent office during the early years of the American Republic. The Patent Act of 1793 directed patent seekers to petition the Secretary of State, who would then direct the Attorney General to examine the petition and determine if a patent should be granted. Nicholas James Roosevelt was an inventor and land investor who later partnered with Robert Fulton in the introduction of steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.