AP American History
Mr. Wegrzyn
Technology & Transportation Timeline with a few Sporadics
1787 James Rumsey invents a boat propelled by a jet stream from the stern.
1790 Samuel Slater replicates water-powered carding/spinning machines.
1793 Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.
1797 Whitney invents interchangeable parts for firearms.
1807 Robert Fulton invents an economically practical steamboat.
1812 War of “Guess When” begins.
1814 Lowell opened first mechanized textile mill.
1817 DeWitt Clinton begins work on the Erie Canal in New York State.
1819 McCulloch vs. Maryland – establishes the supremacy of the Federal government and the
inability of individual states to tax the Federal government (protecting the Bank of the U.S.).
Also Dartmouth College vs. Woodward held that legislation could not be passed to invalidate
contracts.
1823 Lowell Mills opens in Massachusetts.
1824 Gibbons vs. Ogden – establishes the sole authority of the Federal government over interstate
commerce.
1825 Erie Canal is completed.
1828 First U.S. railroad appears.
1830 Baltimore and Ohio Rail company begins operation.
1834 Cyrus McCormick invents the mechanical mower-reaper. National Trades Union forms.
1835 Samuel F. B. Morse invents the telegraph.
1837 Cumberland road (National Road) is completed.
1838 John Deere invents the steel plow.
1842 Massachusetts legalizes labor unions in Commonwealth v. Hunt.
1846 Elias Howe invents the sewing machine.
1858 First transatlantic telegraph cable unites Europe and the Americas.