+ Albion, Robert, William A. Baker and Benjamin Labaree.
New England and the Sea
. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press. 1972.
This is a comprehensive study which includes West Indian trade.
* Andrist, Falph K.
The Erie Canal
. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1964.
This book contains special picture portfolios of early industry and Waterways.
* Athearn, Robert G.
Yong America
. New York: Dell Publishing Co. 1963.
This is Volume 5 of the American Heritage New Illustrated History of the United States. It is rich in full color graphics.
+ Bruchey; Stuart.
Growth of the Modern American Economy
. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1975.
This is an easily understandable introduction to economic research.
+ Clymer, Adam. “Carter’s Vision of America.” New York Times Magazines 27 July 1980. pp. 14-19.
+ Clark, Victor S.
History of Manufactures in the United States Vol 1 1607-1860
. New York: Peter Smith, 1949.
This gives detailed coverage of early industry.
* Fisher, Leonard Everett.
The Peddlers
. New York: Franklin Watts. 1968.
A unique story is told with the famous Fisher etchings.
+ Fuller, Grace.
An Introduction to Connecticut as a Manufacturing State
. Northampton: Smith College Studies in History . 1915.
The findings of this early study match the new economic research.
+++ Grant, Ellsworth Strong.
Yankee Dreamers and Doers
. Chester, Conn.: Pequot Press, 1974.
This is a lively focus on Connecticut inventors.
* Grant, Neil.
The Industrial Revolution
. New York: Franklin Watts. 1973.
This gives good coverage of the beginnings of industry to 1850.
* Hoyt, Joseph B.
The Connecticut Story
. New Haven: Readers Press. 1961 Immigration and early urban development are covered.
* Hurbert, Archer.
The Paths of Inland Commerce
. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1920.
This survey treats the theme of enterprise.
+ McLane, Louis.
Documents Relating to the Manufactures in the United States collected and transmitted to the House of Representatives
. 1833: rpt. New York: Burt Franklin. 1969.
+ Nettles, Curtis P.
The Emergence of a National Economy 1775-1815, in the Economic History of the United States
. New York: Holt, Rinehart. 1962.
+ North, Douglass C.
The Economic Growth of the United States 1790-1860
, 1860. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. 1961.
This is a good discussion of the sources of economic growth.
+ Pease, Joan and John M. Niles.
A Gazeteer of the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Hartford, William S. March, 1819.
+ Purcell, Richard J.
Connecticut in Transition: 1775-1818
. Middletown : Wesleyan University Press. 1963.
+++ Ray, Deborah Wing and Gloria P. Stewart.
Norwalk: Being an historical account of that Connecticut town
. Canaan, N.H.: Phoenix Publishers. 1979.
This is a recent local history book with lively details.
+++ Revitalizing the U. S. Economy.”
Business Week
. 30 June 1980.
+ Saladino, John G. “
The Economic Revolution in Late Eighteenth Century Connecticut
.” Diss. University of Wisconsin. 1964.
+ Tyler, Daniel. Statistics of Conn. Industry. Hartford: J. Boswell. 1846.
+ Ware, Caroline.
The Early New England Cotton Manufacture: A Study in Industrial Beginnings
. New York: Russell and Russell. 1966.
III. Objectives and Strategies with Sample Lessons
CONTENT The student will know:
1. Economic growth means the increase of the total production of the economy and output per person over tine.
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2. Capital is one of the sources of economic growth.
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a Personal savings are a source of capital
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b Savings are invested to increase productivity
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c Merchants transferred capital from commerce to industry
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d New institutions were developed to promote savings.
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3. Improvement in economic organization is a source of economic growth
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a The evolution of a market economy aided our growth
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b Profits are an important incentive in a market economy
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4. Production is increased with a mix of private enterprise and government support.
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a) Internal improvements in transportation aided our economic growth
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5. Economic growth requires educated citizens.
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6. Primary sources provided us with evidence about peoples’ lives
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7. Historical sources, while incomplete in a variety of ways, may provide much information
8. Many of the questions about history cannot be answered with the available evidence.
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SKILLS The student will be able to
1. Find the main idea or details to prove a fact or support a statement
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2. Summarize and outline a selection
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3. Interpret and compare information from several sources to determine economic growth
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4. Generate questions to elicit information from the data
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5. Define a problem, formulate and test hyposthese, draw conclusions, form generalizations
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6. Apply generalizations from 19th century data to today
7. Write a paragraph(s) describing how the merchant extended credit.
Some of our students will not be going on to college and even fewer will become history majors. What we as teachers need to nurture is the development of amateur historians who know how to ask and answer historical questions of importance to themselves and whose understanding of history will make them more effective citizens.
Our students need to have a sense of the present, of how things happen. The first day’s lesson in “ships to Spindles” should open with the students’ own lives.
Lesson 1: Students will list questions to elicit information about their parents’ jobs
Procedure:
Refer to their past experience in making Family Histories. Ask in they know what jobs their parents have, list some questions on the board to ask their parents that night. Talk about What a manufacturing census is. In small groups or individually, give them questions used by 1845 census taker (Appendix J to suggest other questions to ask their parents. Which of the early census questions are appropriate to ask today? Add more questions to board list.
The students will learn that history is what we live in. It affects our lives and has to be understood on the basis of evidence. By learning to ask questions, the students will understand that the use of evidence is the most dependable way to find cut what happened. We need to teach them how to judge the validity of the evidence.
Lesson II: Students will interpret data and relate it to contemporary economic problems
Procedure:
Establish setting of Connecticut in 1817. Use extracts from an Address to the Conn. Society for the Encouragement of American Manufactures (Appendix B). List on board stated reasons why New England should have manufacturing. Classify reasons. Make a generalization Clarify idea about balance of payments. Ask if these reasons are valid today. What are some ways we can promotes manufacturing today? Tariff? Use board list and generalization to write a paragraph from a particular point of view (farmer, canal builder, manufacturer, importing merchant)
The following sequence of four to five lessons illustrates how primary sources can be used to foster inquiry.
Inquiring about Capital
Define the Problem:
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a) Define economy and economic growth using simple examples of increase in the production of goods and services
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b) Translate the Niles and Pease Gazeteer description (Appendix K) into simpler form to show Norwalk’s economy in 1819
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1. separate relevant information from irrelevant data
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2. classify details into economic categories suggested in source (agriculture, navigation and commerce, and manufacturing) Focus on the manufacturing category
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c) Compare with Norwalk manufacturing census of 1845 (Appendix L)
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d) Analyze the evidence to show growth in Norwalk’s economy
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1. ask questions to recognize parts of a problem What does the data say? What does it mean?
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e) Produce a statement of the problem (What causes an economy to grow? What factors are necessary for growth?)
Develop a Hypothesis or tentative solution
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a) Examine turnpike data (Appendix A) to focus on capital
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b) Infer that capital is necessary for economic growth
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c) Ask what kinds of evidence do you need to test our hypothesis (increase is number of mills, more workers, etc.)
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d) Identify variety of sources of data which will show the kinds of evidence you need
Test the Hypothesis
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a) Interpret the evidence of capital and growth of industries in Appendix M & N. Ask questions such as:
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1. What can you find in the data that you expect or need to find if your hypothesis is correct?
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2. What can’t you find that you expected to find?
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3. What do you find in your data that you don’t want or expect to find if your hypothesis is accurate?
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4. What new things did you find in your data that you had not thought of or expected?
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5. What does the evidence say?
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6. What does the evidence mean?
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7. What does the evidence mean in the light of what you already know? How will it be useful in explaining what you are trying to explain?
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b) Analyze the evidence
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1. Note similarities and differences in amount of capital used, value of manufactured goods, number of persons employed)
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2. Identify trends, regularities.
Develop a conclusion.
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a) Evaluate relationship between evidence and hypothesis
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b) State a conclusion (capital is necessary to increase production)
Apply conclusion to New Evidence
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a) Test hypothesis against new data (Appendix 0)
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b) Generalize about the results (Increased capital is a source of economic growth)
Business letters were transcribed by clerks into Manuscript copybooks. The letter from Bostwick and Booth, storekeepers in New York, Advised the use of an agent in the city. This letter should be contrasted with the ways of doing business by sloop captains in the West Indian trade (Source E) who were subject to the vagaries of the market.
(Courtesy Fairfield Historical Society)
Figure A
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Figure B
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Figure C
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Figure D
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Figure E
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Figure F
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Figure G
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Figure H
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Figure I
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Figure J
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Figure K
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Figure L
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Figure M
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