American Economy

From 1500 to 1800, the American Economy was based on agriculture, farming, hunting, fishing, ranching, mining and timber harvesting to provide food, skins and lumber. This raw material had to be produced, harvested and transported.

Fields were plowed by walking behind a horse pulling a plow and seeded and harvested by hand. Lumber was chopped or sawed and shaped by hand. Grinding mills were powered by water wheels, windmills, horses or by hand. Rocks were removed using dynamite and by hand and dirt was removed by hand.

The invention of the steam engine in 1698 provided another source of power developed to operate a pump to pump water out of mines. In 1712, an improved design used pistons. By 1804, steam engines powered railroads.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_engine

After 1800, there was a race to develop engines to power factories, ships and other devices. By 1850, steam engines had been developed for most applications. The circular saw was developed in the 1813 and by 1880 sawmills were using steam engines.

In 1872, the internal combustion gasoline engine was developed. In 1892 the first gasoline powered tractor was developed.  In the 1920s, farmers began to replace horses with tractors.

In 1839, steam shovels were used to remove dirt. In 1846, nitroglycerine was developed to be more stable and used with dynamite to remove rocks.

The inventions developed from 1800 to 1900 were making work easier and providing tools to enable workers to perform their work with less physical effort and increased productivity.

Railroads were built in 1804 and continued to expand. In 1869 the intercontinental railroad was completed connecting the East and West coast.

The invention of the telegraph in 1844 led to the invention of the telephone in 1876 and the radio in 1895.

The invention of electricity in 1872 led to the building of hydraulic power plants beginning in 1878 to power homes, factories and businesses by the 1920s.

The automobile was invented in 1885 and Ford’s assembly line offered automobiles for $345 in 1914. Farmers bought trucks to deliver their produce.

Sewage treatment in the US began in 1890 and expanded through the 1920s. Water chlorination began in 1894, was implemented in 1905. Water treatment to prevent disease was underway

The airplane was invented in 1903 and provided air travel to develop. Radar was invented in 1935 and enabled airplanes to be tracked.

Penicillin was invented in 1928 and became available in the 1940s. Antibiotics cure infection and inflammation that used to cost millions of lives each year.

This development of technical devices continues today. Electronics controls everything. Our lives and our standard of living changed exponentially after 1920.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader