Changes

* motion pictures (movies)

* motion pictures (movies)

A biographer credited Edison's "highly individualistic style of acquiring knowledge that eventually led him to question scores of the prevailing theories on the workings of electricity."<ref name="Edison"/>

A biographer credited Edison's "highly individualistic style of acquiring knowledge that eventually led him to question scores of the prevailing theories on the workings of electricity."<ref name="Edison"/> Edison's success was not caused by an special advantages:  his family was poor and Edison himself was nearly totally deaf.  Imagine that:  the inventor of the record player was deaf!  We should remember that the next time we resort to excuses for not accomplishing what we could have.

There were other marvelous inventions or engineering feats in the second half of the 19th century.  The Brooklyn Bridge, which still stands today on the east side of lower Manhattan (connecting it with Brooklyn), is a cable suspension bridge that was completed in 1883.  It was remarkable at its time, and heralded in many new suspension bridges to span across waterways.  Soon the Brooklyn Bridge enabled the transportation of 33 million persons a year, and that was before the arrival of automobiles!

There were other marvelous inventions or engineering feats in the second half of the 19th century.  The Brooklyn Bridge, which still stands today on the east side of lower Manhattan (connecting it with Brooklyn), is a cable suspension bridge that was completed in 1883.  It was remarkable at its time, and heralded in many new suspension bridges to span across waterways.  Soon the Brooklyn Bridge enabled the transportation of 33 million persons a year, and that was before the arrival of automobiles!

Not every invention was American, but often the Americans ("Yankees") are best at making the creation practical and most productive.  Henry Bessemer of England invented a means for converting molten pig iron into valuable steel, which was called the "Bessemer process."  The process removes impurities from the molten iron by oxidizing it with air that is blown through it.  In the 1870s Americans built steel mills, particularly in Pennsylvania, to take advantage of this process and produce large quantities of steel.  Those steel mills brought wealth to Pennsylvania for a century, until cheaper labor in Asia and a lack of protective tariffs drove those mills out of business.

Not every invention was American, but often the Americans ("Yankees") are best at making the creation practical and most productive.  Henry Bessemer of England invented a means for converting molten pig iron into valuable steel, which was called the "Bessemer process."  The process removes impurities from the molten iron by oxidizing it with air that is blown through it.  In the 1870s Americans built steel mills, particularly in Pennsylvania, to take advantage of this process and produce large quantities of steel.  Those steel mills brought wealth to Pennsylvania for a century, until cheaper labor in Asia and a lack of protective tariffs drove those mills out of business.

== The Election of 1880 ==

== The Election of 1880 ==

U.S. v. Knight Co. "1895: weakens power of Sherman Antitrust Act by upholding powerful Sugar Trust, which held 98% of mkt"

U.S. v. Knight Co. "1895: weakens power of Sherman Antitrust Act by upholding powerful Sugar Trust, which held 98% of mkt"

== Economics ==

== Economics ==

:“There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it. …

:“There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it. …

:If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

:If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

== Unions and Immigrant Workers ==

== Unions and Immigrant Workers ==

Frederick Jackson Turner 1893: wrote that frontier experience promoted individualism & democracy

Frederick Jackson Turner 1893: wrote that frontier experience promoted individualism & democracy

== Tariffs, Taxes and Pensions ==

== Tariffs, Taxes and Pensions ==

== Preparing for the "Turn of the Century" ==

== Preparing for the "Turn of the Century" ==

Alfred Thayer Mahan 1890: wrote books on sea power and urged strong navy and imperialism by United States

Alfred Thayer Mahan 1890: wrote books on sea power and urged strong navy and imperialism by United States