The Impact of the Automobile on the United States

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The Impact of the Automobile on the United States

The automobile has had a profound impact on the United States. It has brought us

superhighways, paved bridges, motels, vacations, suburbia, and the economic growth

which accompanied them. Today, the automotive industry and nearly one million related

industries employ about twenty percent of all American workers. The US produces more

automobiles than every other nation combined. This product has become a symbol of the

American way of life. The US is sometimes referred to as “a nation on wheels.”

Considering these facts, one must wonder what the United States was like before the

revolutionary innovation of the automobile.

The first automobile was invented by a French artillery officer, Nicholas Joseph

Cugnot. His self-propelled vehicle was powered by steam. Other models of

steam-powered automobiles were created by different innovators, but these models were

eventually made obsolete by the internal-combustion powered car invented by Jean Joseph

Etienne Lenior. This technology reached the United States when Charles and Frank

Duryea made the first successful American gasoline automobile. Ransom Eli Olds had the

earliest assembly line for automobiles and began mass production. Later, Henry Ford’s

Model T dominated the car industry and remained the most popular automobile for nearly

twenty years.

In the early days of the automobile, there was not a real automotive industry. Only

a few hundred cars were made in the early years of automobile manufacturing. They were

very seldom seen and only could be afforded by the wealthy. The car was such an

unfamiliar spectacle, it was sometimes featured in circuses. Eventually, the car began to

increase in popularity.

During the 1920s, the US economy was on the rise and one of the main reasons

was the automobile. Assembly lines were becoming more efficient, thus, admitting cars to

be made more cheaply and allowing prices of cars to drop. From 1909 to 1925, the price

of a Ford Model T dropped from $950 to $290. This allowed more people to be able to

afford them. Millions were sold. The automobile, once a rare luxury, was becoming a

part of American life. It had a ripple effect on US industries. With the increase in

automobiles, came an increase in related products. Large quantities of glass, rubber and

steel were needed t...

... middle of paper ...

...nvolved with the safety of Americans. Many actions by the government

such as the seatbelt requirement and the establishment of the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) have made the automobile safer for the general public.

The automobile has had many different effects on the United States, both good and

bad. In the future it will continue to shape our culture, commerce and surroundings.

Works Cited

1Thomas DiBacco, Lorna Mason, Christian Appy, History of the United States, vol. 2

(Evanston: McDougal Littell Inc.), p. 324.

2John Rae, The American Automobile Industry, (Boston: G.K. Hall & Company), p.

89-92.

3John Rae, The American Automobile Industry, (Boston: G.K. Hall & Company), p.

96.

4John Rae, The American Automobile Industry, (Boston: G.K. Hall & Company), p.

188.

5John Rae, The American Automobile Industry, (Boston: G.K. Hall & Company), p.

89-90.

6American Lung Association of California,

<http://www.californialung.org/support/outdoorair.shtml>, 13 April 2001.

7National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,

<http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus.html>, 14 April 2001.

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