U.S. Technology: History

Lesson 1: Introduction and Early Technology

Conclusion

By 1750 the Colonies were flourishing and it was a safe assumption that they would continue to do so. Cities were beginning to pop up all over the Eastern seaboard and there were frontier settlements moving out into the interior regions of the continent. There were new immigrants arriving daily from not just England, but from Scotland, the Germanies, France, and the Netherlands. The population was also increasing naturally in the Colonies; colonial women were better fed than women in Europe and their children were more likely to survive infancy.

Civilization was being “implanted” in the wilderness and the Colonists were doing their best to “control” the environment and make the best use out of it. The list of products being traded to Europe continued to grow. Rice was beginning to be traded from the South, and pig and bar iron was being processed in Northern mills and sent overseas.

Craftsmen were starting to come to the Colonies to perfect what was being produced and to sell even more of it to Europe. There were furniture makers, stove makers, shoemakers, and seamstresses. There were sawmills, distilleries, brickyards, printer shops, gristmills, and plantations popping up all over the Colonies. They were starting to make use of technology to prosper. It would not take long before they would want more technology in order to prosper and gain access to the new things that the North American continent could offer them.

As new areas of technology became possible the pace of technological change would start to quicken. That will be the area we look at next. To finish this lesson read the conclusion of Chapter One on pages 25 and 26; think about what changes may have led to the need for technology to change and quicken.

Questions to Consider:

1)What were the early differences that were apparent between the Native Americans and European Settlers?

2)How were the Colonies different from each other? How did their interacting help to develop a colonial society?

Bibliography:

Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. “A Social History of American Technology” Oxford University Press, New York (1997)