Science and technology have played an important role in the United States. They have been especially influential in the American economy, where new inventions have often fueled the flames of industry. Follow the directions below to increase your understanding of the influence of science and technology on American history.

1. Read the list below of events in science and technology.
2. Organize and create a timeline of the events with an illustration and appropriate one-sentence summary of each event’s influence on history.
3. Interpret your timeline to write an answer that explains how technological advances led to rapid industrialization in the United States.
4. Compare the effects of scientific discoveries and technological innovations that have influenced daily life in different periods of U.S. history.
5. Describe how scientific ideas influenced technological developments during periods of U.S. history.
6. Identify examples of how industrialization changed life in the United States.

1750
Industrial revolution begins in England. People in factories make things with machines rather than by hand. This increases production and standardizes products.

1791
Samuel Slater returns from England with plans for a textile factory. He builds the factory in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and is known as the father of the “Factory System.”

1793
Eli Whitney invents a machine, called the cotton gin, to separate seeds from cotton fiber. His invention revolutionizes the textile (cloth) industry by making it much easier to make cotton products.

1798
Eli Whitney manufactures identical gun parts so that the parts could be exchanged with parts in other guns. Thus, the parts were “interchangeable.” This idea was applied to the manufacture of other products and eventually led to the assembly line.

1807
Robert Fulton builds a steamboat that paddles up the Hudson River and travels 150 miles in 32 hours. Steamboats gradually replace horse-drawn or human-powered boats on America’s inland waterways.

1811
Construction of the Cumberland road begins in Maryland. By 1852, this hard-surface road is used to transport goods from Maryland to Illinois.

1825
The Erie Canal is completed. It stretches for 363 miles across New York and makes the transportation of goods from the Great Lakes and the nation’s Midwest regions to Eastern and European markets much faster and more efficient.

1829
The Stourbridge Lion, a locomotive, makes the first successful train trip in the United States.

1830s
Cyrus McCormick invents the mechanical reaper. A horse drawn contraption, it makes harvesting wheat, hay, and similar crops much easier.

1837
John Deere invents the steel plow. It replaces wooded-bladed plows and makes farmers more productive.

1844
Samuel Morse invents the telegraph that allows people to communicate by wire over long distances.

1846
Elias Howe invents the sewing machine that revolutionizes the way clothing is made.

1843-1868
Clipper ships—invented in the United States—transport goods across the ocean at a rapid rate of speed. With enough wind, the clipper ships could outrun steamships of the time.

1858
Cyrus Field lays telegraph cable across the Atlantic and connects the United States with Europe.

1861
First transcontinental telegraph is completed.

1869
First transcontinental railroad is completed.

 

History Alive! The United States, Enrichment Activity