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2008 - 2009 ThemeThe Making of Modern America, 1820 - 1900: Patterns of Economic DevelopmentFall 2008 Book DiscussionsHow did economic development and the Industrial Revolution transform work and life in American during the 19th century?DATES AND VERMONT LOCATIONS: Over the course of the 19th century, the United States of America transformed itself from a new, fragile, agrarian nation concentrated along the eastern seaboard into an urbanized industrial powerhouse spanning the continent and poised to play a dominant role in world affairs. Our programming will focus on how economic development during the 19th century transformed work and life in America. Major topics to be examined include industrialization, immigration, western expansion, and conflict between labor and capital. Vermont participated in these dramatic changes, though at a different pace than most of the rest of the country. Vermonters also struggled mightily to find a satisfactory balance between traditional values and ways of life and the rapidly emerging conditions of modernization. The state motto "Freedom and Unity," still a vitally important touchstone for Vermonters, took on new—and more contested—meanings as America evolved into an economic giant and dragged Vermont along with it. Book Group DiscussionsSession 1: The First American Ecologies and Economies Session 2: Trade, Commerce, and Industry in the New Nation Session 3: Farm to Factory to Cities of Steam: Making an Industrial Revolution Session 4: Spanning the Continent Supplemental BibliographyInternet ResourcesEssaysAdditional ResourcesLesson Plans |
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