Industrial Revolution: Definition and Inventions

Socialism

How Socialism Emerged The intellectual roots of socialism go back at least as far as ancient Greek times, when the philosopher Plato depicted a type of collective society in his dialog, Republic (360 B.C.). In 16th-century England, Thomas More drew on Platonic ideals for his Utopia, an imaginary island where money has been abolished and […]

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The Origins of Summer Camps

Did summer camp save kids from factories? Learn about the unlikely history behind modern summer camps.

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1:56 minTV-PG

Child Labor

Historian Yohuru Williams gives a rundown of important facts on child labor in the time of the Industrial Revolution.

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Centralization of Money

In 1838, U.S. Mint branches were opened across the country to fulfill the need for a centralized system of monetary exchange.

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The Industrial Revolution

Beginning in the 19th century, advances in manufacturing revolutionize the American way of life.

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History of Colt 45

In a Mail Call video, R. Lee Ermey answers a question from Carson a nine-year old boy from Colorado who asks when the Colt 45 started its service in the United States military and when it ended its career. The Colt 45 was invented by gun designer John Browning and made by the Colt firearm […]

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2:41 minTV-PG

Spindletop

Spindletop, an east Texas oil Field, produced 80,000 barrels a day and changed the country and oil production forever.

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TOPSHOT - The sun sets behind smoke rising from the LyondellBasell-Houston Refining plant in Houston, Texas, on April 20, 2020. - US oil prices crashed to unprecedented lows on April 20 as futures in New York ended in negative territory for the first time amid a devastating supply glut that has forced traders to pay others to take the crude off their hands. (Photo by Mark Felix / AFP) (Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

Oil Industry

The 19th century was a period of great change and rapid industrialization. The iron and steel industry spawned new construction materials, the railroads connected the country and the discovery of oil provided a new source of fuel. The discovery of the Spindletop geyser in 1901 drove huge growth in the oil industry. Within a year, […]

The Iron Rolling Mill (Modern Cyclopes), 1873-1875. Artist: Menzel, Adolph Friedrich, von (1815-1905) Berlin.

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, a time of great growth in technologies and inventions, transformed rural societies into industrialized, urban ones.

Homestead Strike

In July 1892, a dispute between Carnegie Steel and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers exploded into violence at a steel plant owned by Andrew Carnegie in Homestead, Pennsylvania. In what would be one of the deadliest labor-management conflicts in the nation’s history, some 12 people were killed when striking workers attacked 300 […]

Child Labor

Child Labor in the United States The Puritan work ethic of the 13 colonies and their founders valued hard work over idleness, and this ethos applied to children as well. Through the first half of the 1800s, child labor was an essential part of the agricultural and handicraft economy of the United States. Children worked […]