Steam, Electricity & Gas: Historical perspectives on what we drive today and why

“Steam, Electricity & Gas: Historical perspectives on what we drive today and why” offers a socio-technological look at the early years of the automobile industry. It begins by acknowledging the Industrial Revolution as the foundation for the technological advancements in personal transportation in the late nineteenth century, and suggests why the United States offered a more fertile technological developmental environment than Europe, where the world's first cars were made and driven. It explains that though three European nations had centuries more social construct and physical infrastructure, it was American's cultural, regulatory, and industrial freedoms and visions that allowed inventors, entrepreneurs, and capitalists to pursue their ideas and create a technology and industry that, more than any other, has shaped mankind's lifestyle for over one hundred years.;This work relies upon historical resources defining one or all of three energy sources that powered the earliest automobiles. It encompasses aspects of the Industrial Revolution, Age of Technology, Age of Invention and the Motor Age. While many of these labels may not be recognized historical eras, they relate to the final decades of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth. I offer that the events that took place are more important than the era's labels.;A large part of this paper has to do not with technology, America, Europe, or the automobile, but with the people who carried visions within them, recognized the need for independent mobility, and pursued their dreams. The thesis gives examples of what they had in common and their differences. It suggests that while some were motivated by fame, fortune, or the desire to advance a cause, others were altruistic, seeking to meet a universal need to move their fellow citizens about their homeland.;This thesis concludes with the argument that social and technological determinism are interrelated and interdependent forces. They are two sides of the same coin when discussing the evolution of technology. Primary and secondary sources referenced in this work support this theory by providing evidence and examples of how both elements of determinism have shaped automotive technology and the history of the car.