Entrepreneurs are a different breed. They think differently from others. The definition of entrepreneur-one who takes risks to create a new enterprise-implies that they usually change what is happening around them. They envision new products not yet invented. They see companies not yet built, providing products that benefit mankind. Their inventions can earn profits for the entrepreneur while making travel easier, life safer, information more available, food preparation simpler, clothing better and less expensive-the list goes on and on.

Two scholars debate this question.

By the end of this section, you will explain the causes and effects of the innovations in communication and technology in the United States over time.

When eleven slave states seceded in 1860-61, they left the federal government in the hands of the new Republican Party. The Republicans were dedicated above all to ending slavery and preserving the Union, but many of them also advocated a revival of the Federalist and Whig system of national mercantilism, which sought to have the federal government shape economic development.