Morris Charles R. The Dawn of Innovation: The First American Industrial Revolution

PublicAffairs, 2012. — 384 p. — ISBN 9781586488284 , 1610390490.In the thirty years after the Civil War, the United States blew by Great Britain to become the greatest economic power in world history. That is a well-known period in history, when titans like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan walked the earth.
But as Charles R. Morris shows us, the platform for that spectacular growth spurt was built in the first half of the century. By the 1820s, America was already the world's most productive manufacturer, and the most intensely commercialized society in history. The War of 1812 jumpstarted the great New England cotton mills, the iron centers in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and the forges around the Great Lakes. In the decade after the War, the Midwest was opened by entrepreneurs. In this beautifully illustrated book, Morris paints a vivid panorama of a new nation buzzing with the work of creation. He also points out the parallels and differences in the nineteenth century American/British standoff and that between China and America today.Introduction.
The Shipbuilders’ War.
A War of Honor.
The Lake Arena: Early Stumbles.
Industrial War in the Wilderness.
Chauncey Rules Ontario: October 1812 to May 1813.
Countermove.
Some Not-So-Close Encounters: Ontario, Summer–Fall 1813.
The Battle of Lake Erie.
The Arms Race Escalates.
The Battle of Lake Champlain.
Denouement.
The Hyperpower.
A Very British Industrial Revolution.
The Longitude Problem.
The Quest for Truth.
The Millionth-of-an-Inch Measuring Machine.
Charles Babbage.
And It Worked.
The Portsmouth Block-Making Factory.
The Giant as Adolescent.
Affordable Clocks.
Samuel Slater Rips Off the British.
But Lowell Invents a New Kind of Company.
The Locks & Canal Company.
The Keiretsu Extended.
Of Shoes, Stoves, and Steam Engines.
American Arms.
The Crafts of Gun Making.
Eli Whitney’s Reputational Thrill Ride.
Pistol Maker to the Nation.
The Military Thinks Long Term.
The Machine Geek.
The Quest for the Holy Grail.
The Significance of Armory Practice.
The Rise of the West.
Nascent Colossus.
Striving.
The Western Steamboat.
Anxiety.
The Coming of the Railroads.
VI America Is Number Two.
The Queen City of the West.
Porkopolis.
America’s First Chemical Industry.
... And Mass Production of Furniture.
Steamships.
Baldwin Locomotive.
Corliss Engines.
Hoe Printing.
On the Main Stage.
The Great Race.
Elisha K. Root.
The Amazing Samuel Colt.
The London Armory.
The Expansion of Armory Practice.
America in 1860: On the Brink.
The Newest Hyperpower.
Infrastructure.
The First Middle-Class Nation.
Leaving Britain Behind.
While England Slept.
Catching Up to the Hyperpower.
The Pleasures of Starting in Second Place.
Challenges.
Can China Cope?
Appendix - Did Eli Whitney Invent the Cotton Gin?
Image sources, credits, and permissions
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index