Englishman Research Paper

February 16, 2007Whether its inventing, discovering, or improving, Americans and Englishmen have made significant contributions to the worlds many modern advances. Mark Twain once said, An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they havent been done before(Michael, par 1). Twains words turned out to be extremely accurate. Throughout history, Americans have been the source of a multitude of innovative discoveries and inventions, while Englishmen have primarily put their energy into improving and embellishing things that have already been developed.

One way that Americans have significantly influenced the world is by successfully advancing the field of space
One of the greatest American inventors of all time was Thomas Alva Edison. Thomas Edison invented such useful items as the phonograph and the electric light bulb, which revolutionized the lifestyles of countries all over the world. Creating over 1000 inventions, Edison changed the way people lived forever and earned his place in American history (Thomas, par 1). He is an excellent example of an American that aspired to do things that no man had ever done
In August, 1807, a steamboat designed by Robert Fulton successfully completed the first round trip voyage from New York to Albany and back (Steamboats, par 1). This voyage started an obsession for advancement in steam travel that reached across the Atlantic and into the minds of the British people. Their quest to always out-do their competitors eventually led to the creation of one of the most famous steamboats of all time. The Titanic was the most luxurious ship that had ever been built. It could not compete with the speed of other steamships, however, so the English decided to compensate by creating the largest and most elaborate ship the world had ever seen (Sinking, par 3). The Titanic was financed by an American company, International Mercantile Marine, which purchased White Star Lines, the British marine company responsible for building the Titanic. The ship, however, was built totally with British technology, registered as a British ship, and manned by British officers (Sinking, par 2). The Titanic launched its first voyage from Southampton, England on the evening of April 14, 1912 (Sinking, par 1). It was traveling to New York when it struck an iceberg and sank, killing fifteen hundred people. The superiority of the Titanic will always be overshadowed, however, by the memory of one of the greatest disasters of all