7.3 Terms and People
Laissez-Faire- Starting in the 1700’s, an idea that government should not interfere in business. It comes from a French phrase meaning “free to do.”
Adam Smith- A leading advocate of laissez-faire economics. He published The Wealth of Nations in 1776, in which he analyzed the definition and creation of wealth.
Thomas Malthus- Influenced by Adam Smith, concerned about population growth caused by the development of industry. He wrote that the population would always grow faster than food production, therefore poverty and misery would never go away.
Entrepreneur- Someone who starts a new business. Among the entrepreneurs were financiers, bankers, and investors who pooled their money to create large corporations.
Andrew Carnegie- Born in Scotland, and was an example of “rags to riches” success. He began working in a mill at age 12 and with hard work he led the expansion of the American steel industry.
Socialism- A theory thought of by Robert Owen that for the good of all, society and government, instead of individuals, should own property and control industry.
Karl Marx- A man of radical views that had a strong dislike for the idea of capitalism and who supported socialism. He wrote the Communist Manifesto which stated that each stage of history involved inequalities between landowners and non landowners.
Communism- The system in which the government owns almost all the means of production and controls economic planning.
Standard of Living- Level of material comfort
7.3 Notes and Main Ideas
• The British started to put the laissez-faire idea to work, and then later the U.S. adopted some of the features.
• A theory that the world contains a fixed amount of wealth is called mercantilism. Mercantilism would surrender to capitalism and competition
• Adam Smith wrote that markets free from government interference benefited all. Such an economic system free from regulation is called a market economy. Also, businesses could compete freely against each other for trade. The British government agreed with the idea and got rid of most regulations by the 1840s.
• Supply and Demand and Competition regulate business. Profit and Price depends on supply and demand.
• If a product is scarce and in great demand, people will pay a lot and profits from sales will rise. Then the makers will invest the money to produce more of the product which will lower the price of the product and exceed the demand.
• As demand increased for capital to build factories, banking and finance became more important occupations. Some made fortunes simply buy buying and selling companies for a profit.
• Population growth can be slowed by Disease, War, and Famine.
• The efforts of Robert Owen and others who supported socialism led to a movement called social democracy.
• It was felt that government should be in charge of work hours and wage. Jeremy Bentham said that a law was useful if it led to the happiness of the greatest number of people. This belief was called utilitarianism.
• Years after the idea of communism, some governments would adopt it and use it to violate basic human rights and freedom of choice.
• Radical Socialist (Marxism) believed in the need of revolution to overthrow capitalism. This became known as authoritarian. It stated that the government would own all means of production and would control economic planning.
8.1 Terms and People
Michael Faraday- He discovered the connection between magnetism and electricity. His discovery led to the dynamo, a machine that generated electricity by moving a magnet through a coil of copper wire. He used the electricity to power an electric motor, and his discoveries led to the development of electrical generators.
Thomas Edison- He developed the first usable and practical light bulb in 1879.
Bessemer Process- This involved forcing air through molten metal to burn out carbon and other impurities that make metal brittle.
Henry Bessemer- Developed the Bessemer process and made it financially successful.
Henry Ford- Wanted to change that cars cost too much money so he made a line of affordable cars called the Model T.
Wilbur and Orville Wright- On December 17, 1903 succeeded in flying a powered airplane in sustained flight.
Telegraph- A machine that sent messages instantly over wires.
Morse Code- A series of long and short signals that represent letters and numbers.
Samuel Morse- Credited in inventing the telegraph, and also inventing Morse code.
Alexander Graham Bell- Credited with inventing the telephone. He was a teacher of hearing-impaired students, and was one of the scientists working in sound technology. He tried to create a way to send multiple telegraph messages at the same time. In 1876 he called Thomas Watson over, but Watson could not only hear him through air, but also through the device’s receiver. This is how the telephone was born.
Guglielmo Marconi- In 1895, he used discoveries to build a wireless telegraph, or a radio.
Joseph Swan- In 1860 he developed a primitive electric light bulb that gave off light by passing heat through a small strip of paper. It did not shine very bright, nor did it shine for very long.
Gottlieb Daimler- Developed practical automobiles. In 1886 he put an internal combustion engine on a horse carriage. He also developed the carburetor, which mixed fuel with air for proper combustion in the engine.
8.1 Notes and Main Ideas
• Edison’s light bulb came through trial and error and many hours of work in a lab.
• Some of Edison’s other inventions were Generators, Motors, Light Sockets, and the Electric Power Plant.
• Electric power improved industry in three ways. Factories no longer had to rely on steam engines, nor did they have to depend on waterways to power steam engines. Also, factories became less dependant on sunlight, increased production.
• Electric power improved daily life because it was cheaper, and it was a more convenient light source than gas or oil. Also, it led to other electrical devices to be invented.
• Trains replaced boats because they could carry heavy things, and could travel faster. The world’s first rail line was built in Britain in 1830.
• The Bessemer process led to stronger steel in order to make sturdier bridges. Factories increased production of locomotives.
• New products became available due to the new advances in transportation. Materials could arrive places much faster then ever before. Food products would no longer be spoiled when arriving to their destination, and now shoppers had more variety of food choices.
• Three more modes of transportation were Steamships, Automobiles, and Airplanes.
• Learn more about these on the last four slides of the 8.1 power point.
Don’t forget to review sections 7.3 and 8.1 on Thinkcentral.com!
