Scientific Americans : : Invention, Technology, and National Identity / / Susan Branson.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Complete eBook-Package 2021
• VerfasserIn: Branson, Susan,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.) :; 44 b&w halftones

In Scientific Americans, Susan Branson explores the place of science and technology in American cultural independence from Europe, and America's nation building in the early republic and antebellum eras. This engaging tour of scientific education and practices among ordinary citizens charts the development of nationalism and national identity alongside roads, rails, and machines.Scientific Americans shows how informal scientific education provided by almanacs, public lectures, and demonstrations, along with the financial encouragement of early scientific societies, generated an enthusiasm for the application of science and technology to civic, commercial, and domestic improvements. Not only that: Americans were excited, awed, and intrigued with the practicality of inventions. Bringing together science and wonder, Susan Branson charts how everything from mechanical clocks to steam engines informed the creation and expansion of the American nation. From the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations to the fate of the Amistad captives, Scientific Americans shows how the promotion and celebration of discoveries, inventions, and technologies articulated Americans' earliest ambitions, as well as prejudices, throughout the First American Century.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: The Role of Science and Technology in the Creation of American National Identity -- 1. Domestic Science: Learning, Observing, and Promoting Science as American Enterprise 2. Flights of Imagination: Air Balloons and National Ambitions -- 2. Flights of Imagination: Air Balloons and National Ambitions -- 3. Engines of Change: Machines Drive American Indus -- 4. Grand Designs: Technology and Urban Plan -- 5. Internal Improvements: Phrenology as a Tool for Reform -- 6. Fair America: Promoting American Invention -- Conclusion: The First American Century -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index