The Development of American Science and Technology in the Eyes of Henry Adams - Essay Example

Firstly, it will contextualize the historical developments that led to the zenith of American development. Secondly, it will discuss the monumental feats at the early years of the Gilded Age and the important industries and figure heads during that time. The Post-Civil War, the Reconstruction Period and President Grant Important developments in the American nation happened notably during the Presidency of Ulysses Grant in 1869, after the Civil War and the offset of the Reconstruction Era. The societal context of Adams’ life at that time was in a period of aggressive American territorial expansion to the West.

By traversing the annals of American history during the post-Civil War and the height of the Reconstruction, the politics of the American federal government dictated the type of society that the nation had produced during those years. President Jackson was a hostile leader but more importantly, supportive of the idea of Southern reconstruction. He was willing to give the black race, formerly slaves of the white people, the equality and freedom they were demanding before and during the Civil War.

Policies such as the Human Rights of 1865, the establishment of the Freedman’s Bureau and the emancipation of slaves with the eventual abolishment of the policy of slavery was the major political aura surrounding Adams during the 1850s and the 1860s.1 This meant that the society of Adams allowed the osmosis of both races - the whites and the clacks. Parallel with the developments in the political sphere of the United States, accompanying technological advancements had been enhanced at the entrance of President Grant’s administration.

This was made possible through the seizure of the Southern plantations under the supervision of the American federal government. In this case, the predominant industrial states up North worked in hand with the agricultural aggregates of the South.2 The formerly debating economies of the North and the South had been complementing one another towards a definite linear development of what would turn out to be a strong American economy. Adams writes in his recollections that the United States at the late 19th century and the dawn of the early 20th century had been fully industrialized.

Scientific and technological advancements were the turning points of the time.3 The rise of big businesses and the industrialization of the agricultural sector served the economy well. The United States had almost been immediately marked as one of the rising superpowers of the international scene.4 By analysing what Adams had written, it can be said that based on his words, a rich capitalist-oriented society was at its peak. By his experiences after the Civil War and with the subjugation of the South by the North, political stability went in favor for the Republican Party.

In such case, Republican policies and the support of free labor was the basis of American economy.5 The Gilded Age and the Emergence of the American Oligarchy Adams’ recollection in the chapters “The Dynamo and the Virgin”, “The Height of Knowledge” and “The Grammar of Science”, the author infers the development of America with the entrance of the Gilded Age of politics and economy. Adams greatly details the happenings which surround