So many inventions and Social innovations

Inventions in the English-speaking world

Lots of inventions of all kinds have been made in the English-speaking world ever since the 1700s. the birth of modern science provided a basis for the inventions. The Industrial Revolution increased the pace of invention but probably would not have even happened if it had not been for a particular invention – the seed drill: an Englishman called Jethro Tull (the band is named after him!) invented this machine to plant seeds in the ground in a very ordered and efficient way. It replaced the workers on his farm whom he considered lazy and difficult.

What are the reasons for English-speaking inventions?

Often people have asked why there have been so many inventions in the English-speaking countries. Some Englishmen and Americans say it is because their countries are free. They say free people are more inventive than unfree people.

Other people say it is because America has a patent system that encourages inventions, or because America provides a huge market for inventions. Whatever the reasons, half of the most important inventions in the last 200 years have been made in the English-speaking countries. Since the English-speaking countries have less than one tenth of all the people in the world, this is quite a record. One of America’s popular heroes is Thomas Edison. He invented the light bulb, the phonograph and the movie camera.

Social and political innovations

Many social and political innovations have been made in the English-speaking countries as well. The right to vote for all men, not just people with property, was invented in the American State of Vermont in 1797. The first women’s high school and college were opened in America in the 1820's and 1830's. Women first got the right to vote in the State of Wyoming in 1869, and nation-wide in New Zealand in 1893. The secret ballot was invented in Australia in 1856. the electric voting machine was invented in America in 1869. representative government was developed in England; modern federation was developed in America.

The first bill for free public schools was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1779.

The modern legal provision for economic corporations was worked out in America in 1855.

The modern patent system, which makes it easier for inventors to profit from their inventions, was itself invented in America in 1790. The list goes on and on.