> Nonsense. The US was born as a developed nation, it never had a period of time when it wasn't.

You really need to study history again. There was a big gap between Europe and the US that wasn't closed until the late 1800s. In terms of scientific discoveries (which are often closely tied to patentable discoveries), Europe (Germany, more specifically) continued to lead until WW2, when we broke their PhD lineage with Operation Paperclip.