Way back in 1861, the King of Siam thought America could benefit by having a few elephants to help with the "heavy lifting" involved in a nation less than a 100 years old.
The King kindly wrote the United States State Department and offered to send elephants to Washington. He offered to get the young male and female elephants from the Siamese jungles and (shades of Noah's ark) ship them one or two pairs at a time to America. The Siamese king believed that the nation could use the strong animals to travel through the unchartered "jungles" of the United States.
President Abraham Lincoln learned of the proposed gift when he became president, but he declined the offer. He explained that most of the heavy work in the United States was being done by steam and machines.
He politely thanked the king for the offer but pointed out that the temperature of America was not conducive to the raising of Siamese elephants!
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