What did mechanics in 1790 do? (AP US History)?

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huai j

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If you lived in 1790 and called yourself a mechanic, what would you most likely do for a living?
A. manufacture goods by hand in a workshop
B. maintain the carriages and carts of a rich merchant or large landholder
C. sell cheaply made trinkets to Indians
D. Design steam engines for municipal power plants
E. work in one of the new iron foundries
 
None of the above. If you called yourself a mechanic in 1790, no one would know what you were talking about. Unless you lived in the Far East, where mechanical principles were theorized from the 12th century on. But none of this information was available in the United States until the 1800s.
 
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