Research: Invention and innovations

Choose one of the following American inventors: Eli Whitney, Oliver Evans, Samuel Colt, Robert Fulton, Samuel F. B. Morse, or Cyrus McCormick. Research his life and invention at the library and/or on the Internet. Then write a one- or two-page essay on the inventor, focusing mainly on his invention and how it advanced industrialism in the United States. Be sure to discuss the inventor's business efforts with the invention.

Activity: Business monopolies

Form a group of four. Prior to the day of the activity each member should read about the rise of big business monopolies from the early 1860s to the 1920s. Then the group should play the board game Monopoly. Afterward, discuss among your group the principles of business monopolies that arose in the game. Begin by discussing what a monopoly is. Who in the game achieved a monopoly, or came close? What was the effect of the...