Paul Jones

American Pageant Chapter 14

1. Cyrus McCormick
Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr. (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) of Rockbridge
County, Virginia was an American inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting
Machine Company, which became part of International Harvester Company in 1902.
2. Eli Whitney
Eli Whitney (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825) was an American inventor best
known as the inventor of the cotton gin. This was one of the key inventions of the
Industrial Revolution and shaped the economy of the antebellum South.[1] Whitney's
invention made short staple cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the
economic foundation of slavery. Despite the social and economic impact of his invention,
Whitney lost his profits in legal battles over patent infringement, closed his business, and
nearly filed bankruptcy.
3. Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with
developing the first commercially successful steamboat. He also designed a new type of
steam warship. In 1800 he was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to design the
Nautilus, which was the first practical submarine in history.
4. Samuel F.B. Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was the American inventor of a single-wire telegraph
system and Morse code and (less notably) a painter of historic scenes.
5. Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major
changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the
socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently
spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The onset of the
Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect
of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.
6. Factory system
The factory system was a method of manufacturing first adopted in England at the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution and later spread abroad. Fundamentally, each
worker created a separate part of the total assembly of a product, thus increasing the
efficiency of factories. Workers, paid by wage, and machines were brought together in a
central factory. All the processes of production would be carried out under one roof, and
would continue as long as it was practical. Inconclusively, Richard Arkwright is the
person credited with being the brains behind the growth of factories. After he patented his
water frame in 1769, he established a factory at Cromford, in Derbyshire, England. The
factory system was a new way of organizing labour made necessary by the development
of machines which were too large to house in a worker's cottage. Working hours were as
long as they had been for the farmer, that is, from dawn to dusk, six days per week. It
reduced the worker to an unskilled commodity who could be easily replaced.
7. Rugged individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook
that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's
goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether
by society, or any other group or institution. Individualism is opposed to collectivism,
which stresses that communal, community, group, societal, familial or national goals
should take priority over individual goals.
8. Cotton gin
A cotton gin (short for cotton engine[1]) is a machine that quickly and easily
separates the cotton fibers from the seeds, a job previously done by hand. These seeds are
either used again to grow more cotton or, if badly damaged, are disposed of. It uses a
combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through the screen,
while brushes continuously remove the loose cotton lint to prevent jams.
9. Pony Express
The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the North American continent
from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 1860 to October 1861.
It became the nation's most direct means of east-west communication before the telegraph
and was vital for tying California closely with the Union just before the American Civil
War.
10. Tammany Hall
2Tammany Hall (Founded May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society, and also known as
the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order), was the
Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York
City politics and helping immigrants (most notably the Irish) rise up in American politics
from the 1790s to the 1960s. It usually controlled Democratic Party nominations and
patronage in Manhattan from the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854 through the
election of John P. O'Brien in 1932. Tammany Hall was permanently weakened by the
election of Fiorello La Guardia on a "fusion" ticket of Republicans, reform-minded
Democrats, and independents in 1934, and despite a brief resurgence in the 1950s, it
ceased to exist in the 1960s.