Belle Plaine High School - Tigerian Yearbook (Belle Plaine, MN)

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Without realizing it, England instilled in the colonists the individual purpose and ingenuity that necessity breeds. With trade goods cut to a minimum, determined young leaders of the time set out to find ways of surviv- ing without support from the Mother Country. Agricultural methods and machines and labor saving devices were designed by our forefathers. As frontiers opened, Yankee genius had to conquer natural barriers in the wild new country, so suspension bridges were invented and methods of transportation were perfected for the purpose of opening the untamed areas. Later, they sought to section off the land with the revolution- ary and controversial invention - barbed wire. Cooper's 1-horsepower Tom Thumb train in 1830 and later, automobiles like the first Model T, and the 4-horsepower airplane g became American modes of travel from city to city and coast to coast. Americans knew that the fertile lands of this nation would produce unequalled harvests if machines were designed to take over for man. They knew also that trade 'routes were difficult to travel and manufacturing would have to be done close to home. The cotton gin, textile looms, drill presses and a reaper which could cut six times as much grain as a hand scythe were some of the tools invented. Protection for themselves and for their young country prodded inventors like Eli Whitney to perfect firearms and others to work on plans for the first submarine. Young inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison fcalled the nation's most valuable citi- zenj visualized machines that would light the country and open up communication with those inthe far cor- ners of the nation. The telephone, telegraph, phono- graph and the first light bulb were discovered in the late 1800's and early twentieth century. This American way of doing for oneself inspired many to become inventors in their own right. Some sought to save labor and mass- produce for profit while others envisioned not only riches, but excitement and adventure as they discovered ways to defy nature. Throughout the past 200 years the American mind has been unleashed to take whatever paths necessary to ful- fill the needs. ln the last half-century, the pace of dis- covery has been overwhelming and inventions for the taming of the universe lie in the grasp of America while the habit of finding a way is ingrained in its people. The seeds of industrial America were sown by these inventors resulting in today's mechanized society.

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NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF I 4-' u ? I SUBMARINE ff' I n Q' K N X 9. -,, 0 . x 1 COTTON X W' ' K I GIN :Modem ELEPHONE ffl' ' . A N - 11 441 M' W nm '- ' ,, - 1.141 l4 - ,JA JX ,,-,f dwg, I , . -, A -,- L .fgefr - - A Q, T- 1 cs- I Wwqw abgg' '

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THEY MADE THEIR MARK Men and women who helped shape America's history THOMAS PAlNE, a bankrupt Quaker corsetmaker, some- time teacher, preacher and grocer wrote the most bril- ltant pamphlet of the American Revolution, Hts words rn Common Sense retllectedllorigrrrgs' and asprratronsllhat have remained part ol American culture to this day. DANIEL WEBSTER chose law as a career and went on to become well-known rn the courts and rn politics He was twice Secretary of Slate with an eye always to the Presi- dency which eluded him. Q 1 tlhrel lusttce IUHN MARSHALL established lundamenlat principles ol American constitutional law. Hers noted lor hrs precuderrlal declaration ol a Congressional act as urrconstrtutronat He served through live admrnrstra' tions. lrom l80l-1835 4 I r T al ll 1 I L l l ABRAHAM LINCOLN eprtomrzed the Amerrcan dream ofa humble young man ascendrng to the highest ollrce ol the land. He was superbly skilled at analyzrrrg complex rs- sues and translating them rnto meanrngful words lor the pu htrc, He was devoted to the preservation ot the Union, Born a slave in Maryland, FREDERICK DOUGLASS taught hrmself to read and wrrte secretly and.at Zl. escaped to treedom. He was an ardent abolttrorust campaigning successfully lor Negro suffrage and crvrl rights, HARRIET BEECHER STUWE wrote Uncle Torn's Cabin in an elfort to make the whole nation realize the inhumane- ty ol slavery. Her oooh resulted in one ol the most popu- lar and controversial plays on the American stage The Crvrl War was kindled t1y'thrs work l DIIROTHEA OIR worked her entire adult lrle lor relorm ot the existing penal and mental mstttutrons rn the mrd' t800's. The lrrst state hosortal rn the nation at Trenton. Newlersey was a direct result ot her eltorts. The New Colossus, a sorrrret composed by EMMA Ull- ARUS fn 1883 rs inscribed on a hronre tablet at the hase ol the Statue ot Liberty, She organrzod relrel lor lews arid helped lugrtrves lrom the Czar's ghetlos to estahhsh homes in Amerrca l I The creator dt the Cherokee alphabet. SEQUOYAH, was an artist, writer and orlversmrth He used a simple l82l English Urrrner to compose the characters. The famous redwood trees ol the Pacrllc coast bear hrs name AMELIA IENIIS BLOOMER. best known lor a mode ol dress she adopted during her campatgn for equal rights lor women. Though ridiculed until she gave up the cos- tume, the term UIIIDOTTIEYM came to symbolize worrran's bud lor rndrvrdual lreedom. HORACE GREEIEYS admonition to Go West young man was a rallyrng cry ot the pioneers ol America. He was tounder and editor ol the New York Trrbune, Ile was best known lor his olulosoohy ol socral relorm and hrs unsuccesslul bid lor the Presidency m 1872 JOSEPH PULITZER was the lust rournallst lo reach a tru- ly massive audrence, Hrs New York World newspaper was the symbol ol yellow journalism with tts sensational- ism armed at the common man.