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Fitch's idea would be turned profitable two decades later by [[Robert Fulton]]. Though Fulton was able to obtain a monopoly in the state of [[New York (state)|New York]] because of the powerful influence of his partner [[Robert Livingston (1746–1813)|Robert Livingston]], he was unable to gain a U.S. patent largely because he could not demonstrate the originality of his designs. Also, an original member of Fitch's company, [[William Thornton]], had become head of the newly created [[Patent Office]], and made the application process even more difficult for Fulton. Fitch had also received a patent in 1791 from [[France]], and in 1793, having given up hope of building a steamboat in America, he left for France, where an American investor, [[Aaron Vail]], had promised to help him build a boat there. But Fitch arrived just as the [[Reign of Terror]] was beginning, and his plans had to be abandoned. He made his way to [[London]] to make an attempt there, but that also failed. He returned to the United States in 1794 and made a few more tries to build a steamboat.
Failing this, he moved to [[Bardstown, Kentucky]], in 1797, where he hoped to sell some of the lands he had acquired there in the early 1780s, and use the proceeds to build a steamboat for use on the Ohio or Mississippi River. He arrived to find settlers occupying his properties, resulting in legal disputes that occupied him until his death on July 2, 1798<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geni.com/people/John-Fitch/6000000000382935150|title=John Fitch}}</ref> in Bardstown.<ref>Sutcliffe, A.</ref>
==Steam locomotive==
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==Legacy==
Fitch's legal dispute over state monopoly rights with fellow steamboat inventor James Rumsey and others helped bring about the enactment of the first [[Patent Act of 1790]]. He is mentioned in the personal letters of several historical figures, including [[George Washington]],<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw290246)) Letter of George Washington to Thomas Johnson, November 22, 1787]</ref> [[Benjamin Franklin]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.franklinpapers.org/franklin/search?q=fitch&sound=sound |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109071759/http://www.franklinpapers.org/franklin/search?q=fitch&sound=sound |archive-date=2013-11-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Thomas Jefferson]], and [[James Madison]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/madison_papers/mjmquery.html|title = About this Collection | James Madison Papers, 1723-1859 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress}}</ref>
===Memorials===
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* Prager, Frank, editor (1976) ''The Autobiography of John Fitch'' Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society
* Watson, John F. (1850), ''Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania'', King and Baird
* Wescott, Thompson (1857), ''The life of John Fitch, the inventor of the steamboat'', Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Company.<ref>
* "John Fitch." ''Dictionary of American Biography''. 1928–1936.
* "John Fitch." ''Webster's American Biographies''. G&C Merriam Co. 1975.
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