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Explore the development of transportation in early America through the growth of roads, canals, and steamboats, enabling national and international trade and connecting the country's interior with coastal regions. Discover how infrastructure advancements transformed the economy and society during this era.
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A Growing Capitalist Nation Early Roads Steamboats and Canals Steel and The Railroad National and International Trade
Early Roads • People located in the interior of the United States find that they are isolated from the those that live on the coast or located near riverways • They desire markets for their goods and to purchase goods as well • Early roads are unpaved foot paths and in the rain turn into “muddy swamps” • The War of 1812 showed that roads were needed because supplying troops was a war unto itself
The National Road • Early roads are paved with stone and covered with gravel • The National Road linked the Ohio River Valley to the port of Baltimore • It increased trade both on a foreign and national level by linking the central U.S. to the Eastern Coast • Towns are born along roads
Canal Systems • Canals provide a way to transport large goods on water quickly because ships glide on water reduces friction • The Erie Canal stretch 346 miles and links Lake Erie to the Hudson River. Towns like Cleveland and Dayton Ohio become manufacturing cities. • It used to cost $100 to ship a ton of grain in 1820; by 1825 it will only cost $9! • Irish labor will contribute to the building of the nearly 3,400 miles of canal systems in the Eastern U.S.
Robert Fulton and the Clermont • Robert Fulton, supported a national river transportation system • Tinkered with submarine mines, studied canal boats, and ambitious • Designs a steam powered paddled-wheel boat with a metal sheet covering the hull
The Impact of the Steamboat • The Clermont sails up the Hudson River to Albany in 1807. • By 1812, New England shoes, eastern furniture and china sets are sailing by hogs, hemp, grain and whiskey on the Hudson River • Steamboats transport goods and people cheaply and quickly are dangerous. Boilers have a tendency to explode!