Automotive Transportation

Horseless transportation was a very popular dream shared by many Americans at the turn of the 19th century. The steam engine was the only available power to work with at the time, and it meant for heavy, rough, and dangerous riding. Boiler explosions threatened drivers and a top speed of around 30mph in the late 1800's was fairly inefficient. The next drive system was surprisingly not internal combustion but electricity. In 1888 William Morisson invented the first practical electric people transporter. It was able to transfer 12 people at 20 miles per hour for over 13 hours. However, the father of all engines was being experimented with during this time, the internal-combustion engine. Early models could only move about six kilometers in three hours in 1826, but J. Frank and Charles E. Duryea began commercial production of the more reliable and efficient engine that burned air, gas, and oil. Frank and Duryea sold these automobiles to the upper class at a high cost of $5,000because of the low supply of handmade cars. A Boston millionaire Charles J. Glidden sponsored an annual tour that featured different brands of cars. These tours tested the reliability and safety of the cars and also sparked the American crave for speed. By 1906, a racer set the land speed record at 127 mph. However, many civilians can not handle that speed without the highways, so the car companies turned back to durability and practicality. This lead to the famous Model T. Ford was able to make a car that was so durable it could be mended with rope and wire by the owners. It was such a remarkable car that it actually created a problem. In 1927 when the new Model A came out the model T still dominated the roads at 70%. Therefore, the car companies started making cars more appealing by using more comfortable suspension and flashy colors. After World War II the automobile took off and the entire nation became obsessed with automotive transportation. America now had three big companies comprised of GM, Ford, and Chrysler. The Big Three started to produce different cars for different income levels and the idea succeeded.
America became obsessed with cars in the 70's and considered themselves, "king of the roads." This is a fitting name for the Americans as they adopted the internal-combustion engine from Europe and made it durable and reliable. As durability became expected from all the Big Three, the aspect that separated and put a company ahead was flavor. Designers loaded cars with large tail fins and as much chrome as they could to get their car noticed by the public. In the 50's to 80's citizens were able to buy cars that were flashy and matched their radical love for the car and road itself. In my opinion this became a lost cause as gas prices exploded and safety officials cracked down on the speed limits. As time shows, the hole point about getting a car is to be free and become an individual. It is expressed through the art of ones car and through the places one takes the car. People in love with speed and power buy the muscle cars and race them from one red light to another. It is obvious that there is much more to the car than just transportation in America. It is a technological symbol of freedom, fun, and individuality. That is why the car is still praised today after conflicts with the oil crisis and safety officials cracking down on their flaws.

"automobiles." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .

Science Overview

Scientific research was minimal in the United States as America was building up a solid foundation. Almost all of the scientific discoveries consisted of inventions that would improve practicality of certain tasks like traveling, picking crops, doing chores, and communicating. This research was based on "applied science." Applied science was any kind of scientific discovery, typically inventions, that can be applied to everyday life, for example a cotton gin. It was not until after World War I that scientist started to do work in "pure science." There were many scientists who immigrated to America and were a result of this scientific activity. The pure science consisted of unrelevant studies or indirect studies. For example, Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer researched the atom and learned that it stores a mass amount of energy and if it were released it would set off a chain reaction. The two scientist then used this knowledge to come up with the infamous Atom bomb. The government then showed a high interest in the sciences as a result of the Atom bomb. They launched many technological races with foreign countries especially the Soviet Union. The US and Soviet Union went at it in a race to concur the skies, space, and earth. They had the space race and the arms race. Each country trying to show their dominance. However, the government has now slowed down on funding to science after the peak years from after the World War to the new century. The loss of funding is a result of the controversial topics that are being researched today. The controversies include cloning, stem cell research, and genetic testing.
I have found this article extremely helpful for mapping out a general scientific timeline for America. I can see that most of the experiments are funded by the government. Therefore, their interest will be what the scientist will be studying, and the government has a high interest in National Security. That is why most of the technological achievements in the 1940-70s were of military disent. However, once again I still have yet to find information on transportation and the development of highways. What also caught my eye was the Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative mainly because I have never heard about it. The article says that it connected studies from the arms race and the space race which are the two largest achievements in science. Going to the moon and creating the hydrogen bomb/discovering plutonium. Therefore, Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative will be one of my future topics of interest.

"science in America." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .

A Changing Nation

From the 1850's to 1900 there have been many milestones in America's improvement in culture. In 1851 the Flying Cloud navigated from New York to San Fransisco in 89 days breaking the record. The first sewing machine for household use was made and patented in Boston, Massachusetts also. The first railroad bridge over the Mississippi was opened on April 21, 1856. In 1860 Oliver F. Winchester started work on the first repeating rifle which would be heavily used in the American West and Civil War. In 1861 the first telegram was sent by wire from California to the nations capital on the other side of the country. This made the pony express insignificant. Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act starting the transcontinental railroad in 1862. In 1866 there were 75,000 miles of telegraph wire laid by the Western Union Company. In 1868 the first ice box was patented by William Davis to transport fish. 1869 the transcontinental railroad was finished. In 1876 Mark Twain received his patent for the first telephone. The first steel structured skyscraper was built in 1884 in Chicago. In Boston the first subway was built in 1897. All of these events have one aspect in common; they all are accomplished with intent to improve and simplify the everyday lives of people. I have found that there are a few key subgroups of technological achievements that almost all the events can fit under. There is transportation, which includes railroads, cars, subways, boats, and planes. Then there is communication. This group would include the telegraph, pony express, the radio, television, and the telephone. Then there is the accomplishments in science which protect the citizens. For example this would include the atomic bomb, first repeating gun, and first bulletproof vest. Lastly, the remaining technological achievements can be summarized as household/everyday life improvements. The sewing machine, washing machine, ice box, refrigerator, television, and light bulbs are just a few examples of this group. Almost all of the technological achievements and inventions can be assigned a group. This is extremely helpful in further research to help narrow down what type of research I should do next. Since I just did a lot of everyday improvements, and I research the atomic bomb which goes under the protection of citizens group, therefore I should probably research transportation via cars and planes.

http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display.aspx?categoryid=39&entryid=270422&searchtext=flying+cloud&type=advanced&option=

"A Growing Nation, 1850-1900." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .

Atomic Bomb/Impact

America has been in World War II for 4 years and needed to defeat one more opponent, Japan. Research on a new weapon was being made in the United States known as the Manhattan project. Luckily this project was near finished when America was ready to invade the mainland of Japan. The President and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson got a panel of scientist together in order to discuss the possible use of this Atomic Bomb. The scientists including Albert Einstein, Erico Firmi, and J Robert Oppenheimer, agreed that "there was no alternative to direct military use." They believed that this technology that they created would defeat the Japaneese and save American lives. Therefore the scientists strongly encourged the president to use it instead of using troups to invade Japan's mainland. Truman ended up listening to them and dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. In effect the bomb crippled the Japaneese port, but they did not surrender, and Truman was forced to drop a second Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki. This devistated Japan and caused their surrender, but I feel like this was a terrible decision in tactics. These two bombs killed over 150,000 people which were 100,000 civilians. I believe that this is terrible; the idea of war is to fight for a cause that you believe in, and do anything one can for that cause. However, why would the United States Government think that it was a good idea to kill thousands of civilians in order to take out the countries ports and factories. It is devistating to imagine the effect of a nuclear weapon detonating on our soil and killing 100,000 civilians. If you could believe that would be 100 times more civilians killed than on September 11. I feel like America made a bad decision on those days to bomb Nagasaki and Hiroshima because of the calateral damage. The countries kept making thier weapons stronger and more potent with technology, but this key incident illustrated to the world the importance of low callateral damage. Thankfully, technology has been altered to start using smart bombs which can be laser or gps guided. This dramastically decreases collateral damage and citizen deaths. I believe that this is what technology should have originally sought out to do instead of kill masses of people, but at least America can learn from our mistakes.



ABC-CLIO. "Background Essay." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. http://www.issues.abc-clio.com/.

Science and Technology

This is the most interesting topic to me because I know a lot about cars and plains. These two modes of transportation changed the society and are the most important parts of technology. I am excited to go deeper into these two categories to see what specific people, machines, and other things helped improve society. Technology is also being used in our country to improve and save our lives. For example, thousands of scientists have been hard at work looking for a new way to defeat the enemy with greater efficiency. One of the nations greatest scientists, Albert Einstein, invented a device that ended up stopping the war within weeks of using it. His research led him to the discovery of the atomic bomb.

Obama's Speech

At first Obama stated what was wrong with the country, and what tragedies have occurred in the past. He reminded the citizens of the problems that they have to endure. Then, after lowering the moral of the citizens, he gave them a bit of hope. Obama tells the citizens that due to his referendums and acts, the economy will bust itself back up again. Frederick Douglass also used this method in order to boost the moral of the people and get them to act. In his Fourth of July speech he first lowered the moral of the black community. Then similarly he gave the people hope for the future. Frederick Douglass said that slavery will surely fall. He assumes that the "Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of our globe." This intelligence is the knowledge of the terrible conditions that slaves were treated. Douglass believes that since the U.S. now does not want other countries to know about how terrible they treat blacks they will be pressured into abolishing slavery by the bad reputation they would get from other nations. This ultimately was his hope that he gave the blacks. It was a not necessarily 100% going to happen though, Frederick Douglass got lucky. However, Obama might not. He could be giving citizens false hope. He made assumptions on the future of the programs he is putting in place. He said that they will fix the economy and give the people more jobs. But what if it does not fix the economy? Maybe Obama is giving us false hope.

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