Innovation and Change
Investigate how innovation in the 19th century changed American life.
Investigate how innovation in the 19th century changed American life.
The Patent Act of 1790 helped inventors and innovators protect their ideas. It also encouraged more Americans to innovate. The result? An increase in new technology. Among the many life-changing inventions of the early 19th century were the battery, electric lamp, steam locomotive, sewing machine, and match. These and other inventions made life easier as well as allowed many tasks to be done faster.
What were some key innovations of the first half of the 19th century?
How did the great amount of technological improvements change life in America?
How did communication and transportation improve?
Before the 1800s, getting a message to someone in another state or country could take weeks or even months. Several innovations in the early 1800s changed that. Chief among them were the telegraph, the telephone, and an improved postal service.
Essential questions:
What was communication like before the 1800s?
How did new technology improve communication?
In what ways does improved communication change life?
Suggested Activity: And the Winner Is…
At the start of the 1800s, most people traveled on horseback or on wagons pulled by horses. Then, a network of roads was built, canals were created, and rails were laid, opening up new ways for people to travel around the growing country more quickly, easily, and safely.
Essential questions:
How did transportation improve in the early 1800s?
What effect did better and faster transportation have on the nation?
Suggested Activity: Picture It!
Cornelius Vanderbilt was a wealthy investor and businessman in the 19th century. He owned railroads and steamships that helped make it easier to move goods and people throughout America.
Essential questions:
Who was Cornelius Vanderbilt?
How did he become wealthy?
In what ways would he be considered a Changemaker?
Suggested Activity: Act It Out
McCoy was a bright and inventive engineer who created a lubricator cup that changed how trains could be oiled. He is also possibly the reason that we have the expression, "the real McCoy."
Essential questions:
Who was Elijah McCoy?
What did he invent?
In what ways would he be considered a Changemaker?
Suggested Activity: And the Winner Is...
In the early 1800s, most communities had a one-room schoolhouse. Some families paid for private school for their kids. Then, a politician named Horace Mann introduced the idea of a “common school” that would be supported by state governments.
Essential questions:
What was education like in the early 1800s?
How and why did it start to change?
Who was Horace Mann and why is he called “the father of public education”?
Suggested Activity: Alike and Different
Related Social Studies Topics
Timeline Challenge
Start a class timeline (or add to an existing timeline) showing important events that relate to innovation during America's Industrial Revolution.
Debate
Statement: The telephone was the single most important invention of all time, and allowed for the invention of every piece of technology that followed.
Socratic Discussion
Split Walt Whitman's poem “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” into several parts, give each section to one student in your class, then come back together to discuss its main themes.
Are wealthy business owners captains of industry or robber barons? Read about Cornelius Vanderbilt and others and share your thoughts.
Create
(Not sure what to do? Create an advertisement for one of the new ways of communicating!)
STEM
Other Fun Stuff
Pioneer girl and boy paper doll printables.
Image Attributions