Electric Nation – Kolyo D.

The major question about electricity that was answerd is that electicity should be distributed and monitored bu the goverment. I do belive that that is a valuable statement because the governoment has the sitem of cheks and balances to keep people from taking advantage but then again it dose give the governoment a monopoly over other componies. The idea of the system in edisons electification of NYC was very esential because there he knew that he needed to make the whole system. Some other sientist were experimenting only on some conponents of Edisons system. Samuels’s system used turbines and that was not the reason why it failed it failed because of the stock marcket crash and his whole empire fell down. Rosevelt’s proposal would bring and make electricity afordabe and able for everyone to recive and use. the movie was good overall.

Electric Nation – Joey M

The movie went through all the steps it took our country to develop and implement the electric lighting system. It started with Edison’s development of the electrical system, and covered everything all the way until the Tennessee Valley Authority and their role. I thought the movie was interesting and educational. The larger question the movie answered was exactly what it would take to bring electricity to the people. The answer (in the makers of the movies opinions) was a genius like Edison to invent the system, and a government program like the Tennessee Valley Authority to implement it. Edison realized that just inventing a light bulb would not be profitable on the free market. With no source of electricity, they were completely worthless. He realized that the only way to be profitable with this idea was do supply the people with everything they would need to light bulb as well. Thats why during his process of inventing the light bulb he spent just as much time inventing the electrical lighting system that would be used to bring power to New York City. Samuel Insull’s vision of electrifying the country was through privately owned corporations run by the people rather than the government. His idea however failed when the stock market crashed in 1929. Roosevelt took initiative and made the Tennessee Valley Authority, an organization run by the federal government with the purpose of bringing the electric lighting system to more of the country.

Electric Nation-Rich M.

The in class movie on the electrification of the nation showed the development of the electric grid in a unique way that is often missed by movies that document the history of electricity.It showed the economic and political aspects of the electrification of the nation as well as the3 hardships faced by early investors and purveyors of electricity. It was informative, but not as interesting as it could have been.

The large question the movie addressed was the role of government in the electrification of the U.S. and whether it was helpful or not. The movie supported that government electrification was helpful.

Edison’s use of a system to electrify NYC was helpful in speeding the installation and laid the ground work for following systems in other cities.

Insull envisioned an electric company owned by the people it served. His vision collapsed with the stock market in 1929.The stock in  his company became worthless and millions lost their money.

Roosevelt believed that providing electricity to the masses would create jobs and increase the quality of life. he established the TVA as a vehicle to do this. Wilkie fought the TVA because had private power interests in the region and they could not operate at a loss like the federal government TVA.

Electric Nation – Wes Vullo

The documentary we viewed in class expressed the question of how electric power was distributed to the average civilian. Edison was determined to distribute his new found power, but there was no current system to do so. Edison knew that if he was to first create a power system in New York City he would gain major popularity and press. By electrifying parts of NYC he shocked the country and the world with his new source of power and light. Samuel Insull was a father to the concept of cheap electricity for everyone. He sold the stock of his company to many people who had electricity delivered to their homes. His dream to electrify America did not last long due to the slowing stock market, and Insull continued to sell stock, although the stock was worthless. His dream failed when he was tried in court for fraud, but he was found innocent. Although Insull’s dream was devastated by the stock market crash of 1929, his concept of cheap electricity was a beginning step to the expansion of electricity. During the depression, president Rooslevelt wanted to continue with Insull’s dream with the Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA. The TVA was challegned by Wiilkie by stating that the TVA violated some rights of private companies to distribute power. The case was brought before the sepreme court, and the court ruled in favor of the TVA. After losing the case, Wilkie sold his property in Tennesse to the TVA, which in turn allowed the TVA to distribute power to a lot more people.

Electric Nation – Keith Foederl

The inclass showing of Electric Nation was most informative. Besides documenting the invention of the Electric light, the documentary went further in explaining the impact it had on society. The Large boom of the electronic industry and the beginning of General Electric is a topic seldom covered by Documentaries featuring the invention of the lightbulb. 

1. The Documentary addresses how electricity allowed changed society. How new government projects were established, new companies formed and how electricity increased the quality of living in the United States.

2. The idea of an electrical system was so important to Edison because besides the light bulb, Edison wanted to supply and gain profit from the sale of electricity. To accomplish this a large system to move mass amounts of electricity had to be developed.

3. Samuel Insull envisioned the mass distribution from central power plant at which he owned. Electricity was a new and emerging technology, Power Generation stations were already making thousands of dollars a month just by providing electricity. In attempt to further his company, he often sold his companies stock to average customers, but when the great depression hit, the stock became worthless. 

4. During the great depression to create work, Roosevelt made several public service projects to increase infrastructure. One new emerging  t t was that of electricity. Wikie pushed Roosevelt to create the TVA, a public utility company that would bring electrcity to rural areas as it previously had been limited to large cities.

Electric Nation – Cory

After viewing the movie about electricity on monday I noticed many new aspects of the development of electricity that i didn’t notice before. The documentary discusses the problem of getting electricity to the people. Since there was no feasible way to address this problem it became a huge issue, however Insul addressed this problem by building huge dynamos and by looking for new ways to both excite people into using electricity as well as distribte the “gift” of electricity throughout the country. Edison’s decision to electrify NYC was so important because it gave him a very public and popular place to display his electric light system for the first time. By doing this he was able to both excite the world and to put the people of America into a state of awe by electrifying a chunk of NYC. Samual Insull’s vision for America was cheap and affordable electricity for all of America. His plan backfired as a result of the depression and all the stock that he was selling to the people. He was trying to accomplish good things with the people in his view, not himself, but it backfired when the people lost money from his stock as a result of the great depression. The people needed a scapegoat for their losses and Roosevelt threw him to the dogs. Roosevelt decided to electrify America through a system of government owned dams and public electrification systems call the TVA. By doing this he could give the public cheap and affordable electricity during a time where people didn’t have much money. However Wilkie argued that Roosevelt was taking jobs from the power companies and sued him and won. Wilkie bought all the TVA’s plants.

Electric Nation- Will Foreman

This film was an excellent resource of the history of electricity. It touched on things that I personally did not know. The film showed that not everyone had electricity in the beginning. It also showed that Thomas Edison was not the sole creator and did not have full responsibility for his success. A great deal of Edison’s debt is owed to his secretary Samuel Insull. At first Edison was not particulary fond of Insull due to his lack of age and experience. Later on down the road Insull proved Edison’s assumptions wrong and became an important part of lighting up New York City. The beginning stages were very hard because there were phone lines in the air and there were also power lines overlapping them. This became a very important issue when sparks from the lines began igniting and hitting the road. The new problem that had to be solved was where the electric lines would go. The solution was to rewire the lines and put them underground. This process took a while but overall it was successful in the end. This electricity idea slowly spread westward. To help speed the process President Roosevelt created the Tennesse Valley Authority (TVA). The TVA created lines and put electricity into people’s houses. This created electric power over long ranges and enabled them to compete and eventually overtake private companies. This movie was very informative and taught me a plethora of things i did not know.

Electric Nation- Ben M

After viewing the movie Electric Nation on monday, I felt like I learned in a more depth of how America was electrified. It went on talking about Samuel Insull and the TVA and didn’t just stick to Edison which i enjoyed. It did seam to present its information in a kinda repudiative way but i still thought the movie was was enjoyable and informative.

I believe the move addressed the question of how america was electrified and how it got people interested in new electric technologies. It all started out with edison creating a electric system in NY. it took edison a wile to produce his system because he needed to find a location for his power station and find a cheep and safe way to provide power to the people’s home. Samuel Insull and a similar dream in which he wanted to provide electricity for even more people like farmers who didn’t live in the cities. he was able to make his dream happen by selling stock of his company to the users of the electricity. this worked great in till the stock market crashed and all the stock was worthless.

After the stock market crash president rosevelt agreed with Insull’s vision and wanted to provide cheep electricity to farm owners. he did this by creating the TVA Tennessee Valley Association. The TVA used power from damns to elctrify the Tennessee are and created more damns to do the same thing. the only thing about this was Wilkie sued Roosevelt saying he was taking jobs away from the power companies. Wilkie won and bought all the companies from Roosevelt.

Electric Nation – Wesley C

I thought the movie Electric Nation dragged on too long. For much of the information it presented, it repetitively presented them. However, I did learn a few things such as Samuel Insull’s dream of lighting up the country. He’s a character that has not been mentioned so far in our readings. The movie answered the question of how electric light came to spread across the country. Edison’s system was essential in distributing electricity to the lightbulbs installed throughout everyone’s houses.

Samuel Insull had a vision that electricity could be widely distributed. Electricity would be provided for not just the wealthy or upper middle class but to the rest of society. He envisioned cheap electricity for it to be used by everyone. However, as his company expanded, the Depression came along. In order to save his company’s stock, he bought much of his own in order to keep the price high. Eventually, the stocks became worthless and Samuel Insull was accused of fraud, though innocent when tried in court.

Roosevelt’s policies were parallel to Insull’s dreams. Roosevelt established the TVA which was an attempt to electricy America. However, the United States felt pressure from Wilkie, who thought that the government was venturing into areas which private companies were to cover. When taken to the Supreme Court, it was found that Wilkie was wrong, and Roosevelt was able to spread electricity across the country.

Electric Nation – Robert

The film “Electric Nation” taught me alot about Thomas Edison and his Electric Lighting System, and Samuel Insull. The movie presents the question of how to provide power to everyone. Edison created the lightbulb and the system used to distribute it. He also came up with the idea to put power lines underground to keep people from being electrocuted by fallen power lines. Using his generators he was able to light a half-mile part of New York City. However, Samuel Insull wanted to provide power to everyone, including people in rural areas.

Samuel Insull envisioned that every house would be powered by electricity, and that everyone would own some of the electricity stock. However, his vision went wrong when the Great Depression hit the US, causing the the stock market to crash. This made all of the stocks that Insull sold to his customers worthless and Insull was accused of fraud. However, his dream of providing power to everyone was continued by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was created by President Franklin Roosevelt to electrify America. However, Wilkie argued that the TVA violated the rights of Private Companies and took his case to the Supreme Court. After loosing the Supreme Court case, he sold all of his property in Tennessee to the TVA, which allowed them to provide power to many more people.