Becoming America: Thinking through Identity, Culture, and Traditions in Early America
The Price of Progress
The Industrial Revolution: Embrace It or Stick With What You Know?
At the time of the Industrial Revolution (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries), America was still a new country and the advances made in terms of science and technology during this time were incredibly important. That inventiveness and spirit of progress has been seen as an asset. But these changes also brought a variety of challenges to society in terms of the environment, economic imbalances, and societal issues.
Understanding the relationship that all these changes have on our world means we have to look carefully at the context and the relationship of events in terms of social, political, and cultural factors too. Our upbringing and personal experiences can also have profound effects on our values and perception of technological progress.
Cosack & Co. (printer), The Corliss Engine, Geo H. Corliss, Providence, R.I., approximately 1876, color printed lithograph. | The Jay T. Last Collection of Graphic Arts and Social History, Huntington Digital Library
Time is Money
At a young age, Americans today learn that time is directly connected to tasks to be completed. Often our days start with an alarm clock to wake us up. School starts with a bell and students follow an organized schedule of tasks throughout the day. The clock dictates when they eat lunch, not the empty feeling in their stomachs. Time dictates the day.
Cover of the American Instructor, or Young Man's Companion
In an early book called The American Instructor Benjamin Franklin wrote, “remember that time is money.” His advice to the reader follows an American ideal of hard work and productivity. We have many reminders of the importance of time: That it should not be “wasted” and that we can always do more if we set our mind to it. There are many ways that we can see the value of time and productivity in American history. And there are many ways where we can see different cultural values of time come into conflict.
As innovations in technology became widespread, the rhythm of life in America changed significantly. These changes can be seen as both negative and positive.
Change in one area of our lives inevitably affects or relates to change in another.
Object Story: The Steamboat "Peter Crary"
A highly-detailed “ship portrait” of a steamboat pulling another vessel.
Object Story: Federal Tall Case Clock
A seven-foot tall grandfather clock from around 1820 with inner gears and clockworks made of wood.
Activity: Twenty-First Century Object
Reimagine an object from the eighteenth or nineteenth century into one for the twenty-first.
Activity: Make a Contemporary Connection to Inventions
Examine the role of innovation in relationship to progress and improvements in lifestyle and consider the impact of these improvements on the environment.