31
Jan, 2025

Henry Ford

Personal Finance Week 14 Assignment

Henry Ford was an American industrialist and inventor. He was famous for inventing the model T, the first mass-produced car.

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, to William and Mary Ford. He worked on the family farm as a kid. Ford moved to Detroit at age 16. He built a type of tractor.

Ford experimented with gas-powered motors, and in 1896 he completed a gas-powered horseless carriage. He sold that model to work on making a second model.

Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903, and it started with good success. The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers didn’t give him a license. They said he couldn’t continue producing cars. Ford won the case.

In 1908, the Ford Motor Company unveiled the Model T, a very affordable car due to its mass-production. Ford sold more than 16 million cars while it was on the market. The cars were built on an assembly line, at a rate of one car every 93 minutes, which was revolutionary at the time!

Ford increased the amount that his workers were being paid, and dropped the time that they needed to work, which led people to praise him for his humanitarianism.

The Ford Motor Company also produced other models besides the model T, but in 1909, Ford said that he would only produce the model T in the future. Some people were upset about this. However, it allowed the company to focus completely on the model T. They continued to improve it and make it cheaper.

Ford was a determined man who shaped history. His inventions helped pave the way for modern-day assembly lines, which have revolutionized the way products are made.

The California Gold Rush

8G History Week 12

In 1848, a man named John Sutter built a sawmill along the American River. It was located about 50 miles away from modern-day Sacramento. On January 24th, James W. Marshall, who was Sutter’s carpenter, found gold flakes in the river! Both men promised to keep it a secret, but eventually the secret got out.

Thousands of people rushed to California, due to the news of the gold. John Sutter went bankrupt because of the large amount of people that flooded the area.

People came by sailing around Cape Horn or by taking the 2,000 mile journey across the U.S. Many people died before they even reached California.

By 1853, over a quarter of a million people had arrived in California to try their luck at finding gold. Most people were not very lucky! The working conditions were poor, and prices were very high.

The Gold Rush made lots of boom towns, or towns that sprang up very quickly. Some of those towns are still around today, like San Francisco.

The California Gold Rush fizzled out by the end of the decade, but the impact that it had on our country is still visible today. The gold rush helped California gain its statehood in 1850.

What I Would Do If I Won the Lottery

Daily writing prompt
What would you do if you won the lottery?
View all responses

If I won the lottery, I would invest some of it. This way, my money wouldn’t lose value from inflation. I would also have money in case I decide to go to college or buy a car, etc. I probably donate some of the rest, because I really don’t need all of that money. And with the small amount that’s left, I would use it to buy something fun.

P.S. I don’t play the lottery. I never plan to because it is a waste of money, so I probably will never win.

8G History Lesson 55 Assignment

In this assignment, I will be summarizing the events of the Trail of Tears.

The Trail of Tears was when multiple Native American tribes were forced to relocate from their homeland. Some of these tribes were the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole. They were forced to move to Indian Territory, which is modern-day Oklahoma.

The reason for the Trail of Tears was because settlers wanted more land. There was a gold rush in Georgia, where the Cherokees made their home. The U.S. government forced the tribes out.

The settlers were happy, because they didn’t have to do much to the land, because the Native Americans had already done a lot of the land work.

Most of the tribes agreed to it, but some tribes like the Seminole, fought to stay in their homeland.

It was called the Trail of Tears because many Native Americans died along the way, so it was a very sad time. It is estimated that over 15,000 died on their trip west.

The physical trail was about 5,000 miles long.