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AP®HistoryCollege BoardUS HistoryExam QuestionsPeriod 6: 1865-1898Technological Innovation

Technological Innovation (College Board AP® US History): Exam Questions

3 mins3 questions
11 mark

“Its principle characteristic is to be found in its cheapness. Stell is now produced at a cost less than that of common iron. This has led to an enormous extension in its use and to a great reduction in the cost of the machinery which carries on the operations of society. The effect has been most market in three particulars: First. The cost of constructing railways has been so greatly lessened as to permit their extension into sparsely inhabited regions, and the consequent occupation of distant territory otherwise beyond the reach of settlement. Second. The cost of transportation has been reduced to so low at a point as to bring into the markets of the new world crude products which formerly would not bear removal, and were thus excluded from the exchanges of commerce.” 

“Bessemer Steel and Its Effect on the World.” Scientific American 78, no. 13, (1898): 198–198

The technological innovation described in the excerpt most directly refers to which of the following industrial processes?

  • The Bessemer process

  • The Siemens-Martin open-hearth process

  • The McCormick reaper

  • The application of steam power to factory machinery

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21 mark

“Its principle characteristic is to be found in its cheapness. Stell is now produced at a cost less than that of common iron. This has led to an enormous extension in its use and to a great reduction in the cost of the machinery which carries on the operations of society. The effect has been most market in three particulars: First. The cost of constructing railways has been so greatly lessened as to permit their extension into sparsely inhabited regions, and the consequent occupation of distant territory otherwise beyond the reach of settlement. Second. The cost of transportation has been reduced to so low at a point as to bring into the markets of the new world crude products which formerly would not bear removal, and were thus excluded from the exchanges of commerce.” 

“Bessemer Steel and Its Effect on the World.” Scientific American 78, no. 13, (1898): 198–198

The technological advancements described in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following long-term economic developments in the United States?

  • The acceleration of the Second Industrial Revolution and the expansion of national markets

  • The expansion of the early textile industry in New England

  • The growth of large-scale industrial monopolies such as U.S. Steel

  • The replacement of coal and iron as the dominant sources of energy for transportation

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31 mark

“Its principle characteristic is to be found in its cheapness. Stell is now produced at a cost less than that of common iron. This has led to an enormous extension in its use and to a great reduction in the cost of the machinery which carries on the operations of society. The effect has been most market in three particulars: First. The cost of constructing railways has been so greatly lessened as to permit their extension into sparsely inhabited regions, and the consequent occupation of distant territory otherwise beyond the reach of settlement. Second. The cost of transportation has been reduced to so low at a point as to bring into the markets of the new world crude products which formerly would not bear removal, and were thus excluded from the exchanges of commerce.” 

“Bessemer Steel and Its Effect on the World.” Scientific American 78, no. 13, (1898): 198–198

Which of the following would have been least likely to support the views expressed in the excerpt?

  • John Adams

  • Henry Clay

  • Andrew Carnegie 

  • Thomas Jefferson

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