This series, which ran in Harper's Monthly, looks at technological advances in America since roughly 1776. Since the series began in 1875, this literally was the "first century of the Republic." Each article is packed with information on new inventions, machines, and processes that arose within the previous 100 years. This section brings you those articles related to scientific and technological discoveries and advances; you can find the complete series in the Victorian America section.

The First Century of the Republic #2: Mechanical Progress I, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Steam-engines; agricultural implements (historical as well as recent); the steam-engine and its applications; steam navigation; the locomotive; cotton manufacture (including various spinning and weaving machines).

The First Century of the Republic #3: Mechanical Progress 2, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Iron; mechanical puddlers; iron-rolling mills; fire-arms; precision instruments; bank-note engraving; watch-making; engineering; pile-driving; floating derricks, floating docks & dry-docks; steam-pumps; water-wheels; bridges & tunnels; wood-working (including saws and mortising machines).

The First Century of the Republic #4: Mechanical Progress 3, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Elevators; domestic machinery (including sewing machines); safes; fire-arms & ordnance; telegraph; electroplating; electric light; fire engines; atmospheric railway; balloons; weighing machines; gas; silver; ice; sugar; porcelain; glass; paper; india rubber; meteorological instruments; anesthetics; artificial limbs; aquaria; matches; musical instruments.

The First Century of the Republic #5: Mechanical Progress 4, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Printing (with a lengthy history of printing through the ages); type; type-founding; type-setting and distribution; stereotyping; electrotyping; the printing press; folding machines; addressing machines; printing for the blind; engraving; lithography; photography; photolithography; photo processes; photo-micrography.

The First Century of the Republic #6: Progress in Manufacture, by David Wells (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

This installment gives a historical look at manufacturing and imports before and after the American Revolution and concludes with an interesting look at manufacturing statistics for a variety of industries in the US as of 1870.

The First Century of the Republic #7: Agricultural Progress, by William H. Brewer (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

Everything from sheep to cheese manufacture.

The First Century of the Republic #14: The Progress of The Exact Sciences, by F.A.P. Barnard (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

This section looks at astronomy, meteorology and sound.

The First Century of the Republic #15: Scientific Progress: The Exact Sciences, by Theo. Gill (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

A look at light and heat, photography, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, paleontology, geology, explorations, and the development of scientific societies.

The First Century of the Republic #19: Medical & Sanitary Progress, by Austin Flint, MD (Harper's Monthly, 1876B)

Including a look at the development of vaccines, some major surgical "firsts," and the development of anesthetics.

• See the Full Series