According to Jonathan Swift, necessity is the mother of invention. Here is an example that proves the rule. Our revolutionary leaders urgently sought better access to their continent. Rivers were the only avenues open to them but going west against the current was hard. Washington and Jefferson and Franklin and other founders turned to James Rumsey, a genius living at the edge of the wilderness. Rumsey had an invention which addressed their necessity. It was a steamboat. It inspired solutions that would open the continent to settlement.