Drive of Technology

Drive of Technology

Since the years after American colonization, the drive of technology and technological advances has been a large part of our history. There have been society-changing inventions that have made millionaires, thriving cities, and one of the world's most advanced countries. The fore mentioned inventions and expansions include the cotton gin, the market expanding telegraph, steamboat, canals, railroads, farming advances in the steel plow and McCormick reaper. But the most impacting invention is the light bulb and the use of electricity as power which led to many other inventions.

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin which helped to make the South a money-making machine. The gin made it possible for farmers to grow short-staple cotton for a profit. Short-staple cotton was the only cotton that grew well in the interior regions. Cotton was in great demand in England and the North, which made this gin a major breakthrough. Large amounts of cotton were supplies to them; making Southern farmers a tremendous profit. Non slaveholding farmers began cultivating this cash- crop in fertile areas. Wealthy planters bought huge areas of land and put an massive slave labor force to work. By 1820, this system altered the South into a roaring Cotton kingdom and hastened the expansion of slavery.

During the market revolution in the mid- 19th century, many new inventions and technologies, produced in America, contributed vastly to the change in American life. Samuel F.B. Morse created the telegraph in 1837 and ran a successful test in 1844 that made it conclusive that it will work. The new communication device was used by businessmen to transmit orders and relay fresh information on prices and sales. The telegraph was used by railroads to keep trains moving regularly and to warn engineers of safety hazards. 23,000 miles of telegraph wire was across the country by 1853. The steamboat, invented by Robert Fulton, was a better industry. Farmers and manufacturers both used the steamboat to ship their goods to market more directly. Also, ships can go up and down rivers and could make the return trip because of the steam engines. By 1830, about 200 steamboats traveled the nation's western rivers which flowed into the Mississippi, making voyage time and freight rates much lower.

With this tremendous transportation power in water, waterways had to be created where they did not exist. By 1841, there were more than 3,300 miles of canals. The first major canal was the Erie Canal. Shipping changes fell to about a tenth of the cost of sending goods over land. With the success of this canal, dozens of canal projects were produced. Farmers in Ohio no longer needed the Mississippi and could now ship their grain to New York City through the canal and river. The rise of railroads began in the 1870's. Shipping by rail cost more, but the vital advantage of speed led to its success. Trains could operate during winter and brought goods to people who did not live near waterways. Railroads became a safe and reliable source of