What Has Government Done for Us?

from HAWB – Introduction – "How America Was Built"

January 26, 2015

• 1794-1816 The federal armories lay the foundation of modern industrial mass production
• 1801–1806 Oliver Evans develops the high-pressure steam engine
• The Coast Survey Act of 1807 and the discovery of a deep water channel into the port of New York City
• 1804-1859 The Army Corps of Topographical Engineers explore and map the West
• 1817 The Erie Canal
• 1802-1835 The US Military Academy at West Point and its role in engineering and education
• McCulloch v. Maryland 1819 – Powers are implied, not enumerated
• The General Survey Act of 1824
• The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1824
• 1833 Associate Justice Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution
• 1835-1852 The Illinois-Michigan Canal and the creation of Chicago
• 1838-1842 United States Exploring Expedition of the US Navy
• 1843 Direct funding to Samuel Morse for development of the telegraph
• 1850s Admiral Benjamin Franklin Isherwood and the development of steam power
• Land Grant Act of 1850
• Steamboat Act of 1852 and the power to regulate private property
• 1859 Brig. Gen. Randolph B. Marcy’s Prairie Traveler
• Pacific Railroad Acts of 1861 and 1862
• 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Colleges
• 1862 Abraham Lincoln establishes the Department of Agriculture
• 1867-1872 The United States Geological and Geographical Surveys of the plains and the west
• 1870 Weather Bureau of the United States established
• 1879 United States Geological Survey and the development of mining
• Hatch Act of 1887 creates agricultural experiment stations
• 1890s-1920s The Good Roads movement and government pavement of roads
• 1907 U.S. Forest Service establishes Forest Products Laboratory at University of Wisconsin Madison
• The Air Commerce Act of 1926
• 1928 The National Bureau of Standards and the Cooperative Fuel Research engine
• 1911 US Supreme Court breaks Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly
• 1912 USDA botanist and plant pathologist Mark Carleton and the improvement of wheat
• Smith–Lever Act of 1914 establishes a system of agricultural cooperative extension services
• 1915 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
• 1917-1919 The US Navy and the development of radio
• 1919 Nebraska State Legislature establishes Tractor Test Laboratory at University of Nebraska
• 1919 Bank of North Dakota established by state legislature after Non-Partisan League sweeps state elections
• 1920 USDA scientists Harry A. Allard and W.W. Garner discover photo-periodicity of plants
• 1924 US Army Industrial College lays the foundation for the Arsenal of Democracy in World War 2
• 1930s The Bonneville Power Authority, the Tennessee Valley Authority and rural electrification
• The Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932 promotes organized labor unions
• 1942 US military develops mass production of penicillin
• 1943 National Resources Planning Board publishes plans for post-war demobilization of military personnel and reorientation of industry
• 1943 Petroleum Administration for War sends Everette Lee DeGolyer to assess oil supplies in the Middle East
• 1948-1965 USDA regional research laboratories and the frozen foods industry
• Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill)
• 1945 Vannevar Bush’s report to Truman Science, The Endless Frontier argues the need for continued government support of science and engineering research and development
• 1940s-1950s The origins of computers: Whirlwind and the SAGE air defense system
• 1952-1957 US Air Force funded Boeing 707 brings us the jet age

HAWB 1863 – Admiral Benjamin Franklin Isherwood and Steam Power – How America Was Built
Dec 28, 2015

HAWB 1791-2001 Hamilton and the Apple I-phone – How America Was Built
Feb 28, 2016

HAWB – Creating America’s Amber Waves of Grain – How America Was Built
January 1, 2017

HAWB 1940s-1950s Timeline of computer development shows crucial role of government
December 3, 2017

HAWB 1954-1976: The three major developments in aerodynamics
July 25, 2018

The US Coast Survey under Bache – excerpt from Dupree, Science in the Federal Government – HAWB
November 7, 2021

Emergence of the American System of Manufacturing
Dr. Merritt Roe Smith [Tsongas Industrial History Center, via YouTube, Nov 12, 2013]

From Tony Wikrent: "This [last one] may be one of the most important videos you ever watch, because it discusses the actual history of how the USA industrialized, including the fact that the national government played a crucial role. Just like you should forget John Locke, you should forget Eli Whitney, Henry Ford, and unlearn Adam Smith and the entire myth of heroic, visionary entrepreneurs. The basis of modern industrial society was the development of modern machine tools that made it possible to produce interchangeable parts. In other words, mass production. And it was the policies of the national government that made it happen."