USI.27

 media type="custom" key="29548031" align="right" =Explain the importance of the Transportation Revolution of the 19th century (the building of canals, roads, bridges, turnpikes, steamboats, and railroads), including the stimulus it provided to the growth of a market economy.=

** Topics on the Page **

 * Before the Transportation Revolution **
 * Building Roads **
 * Transportation Revolution in Massachusetts **
 * ** Era of Good Feelings **
 * Steamboats and Canals **
 * The Erie Canal **
 * Early Railroads and the Transcontinental Railway **
 * **Dramatic Event on The Transcontinental Railroad**

//**See also AP United States History 6**//

** Before the Transportation Revolution **
Prior to the transportation revolution, the mid western states were fairly isolated from markets in the eastern part of the United States.
 * People often had to use wagons drawn by horses to transport goods over poorly maintained roads. This primitive mode of transportation took a lot of time and man power.
 * Consequently, it was difficult to connect eastern and western markets.
 * For example, it took four days to go from New York City to Boston or Albany or Washington, DC, a week to get to Pittsburgh, and twenty-eight days to get to Detroit.
 * The problem is also illustrated by the cost of shipping goods in the more settled eastern parts of the United States.
 * In 1816, the cost of shipping a ton thirty miles overland in the United States was the same as shipping the same ton to England.
 * Throughout the 19th century, America experienced a Transportation Revolution.
 * This revolution consisted of the development and widespread use of canals, roads, bridges, turnpikes, steamboats, and railroads. These developments made the transportation of goods significantly easier.
 * ===As a result, westerners were no longer isolated from eastern markets, there was an increase in production and trade, and the increased modes of efficient transportation made it quicker, easier, and cheaper to travel.===



Building Roads


Roads were built and maintained by local people, by towns, and for the states that had few sources of revenue and found it difficult to raise taxes.
 * This was an unsatisfactory solution for anyone traveling very far because different towns along a route would have different commitments to finding revenue sources sufficient for the task at hand.
 * Turnpikes were the first solution. In Pennsylvania, the state started building the [|Philadelphia to Lancaster Turnpike in 1792.] It was opened in 1793. It was financially successful, setting off a wave of turnpike construction.

[|The National Road] (also known as the Cumberland Road or the National Pike)

For an easy explanation of the Transportation Revolution, watch this video

Click here for a timeline of the transportation revolution

Click here for a timeline of the Department of Transportation

** Transportation Revolution in Massachusetts **
For more on the development of economic systems in the Connecticut Valley region see, "//The Roots of Capitalism: Western Massachusetts, 1780-1860"// by Christopher Clark, Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. South Hadley Canal

[|Northampton to New Haven Canal]

Era of Good Feelings
The "Era of Good Feelings" was known as the wide spread of economic growth.
 * What sparked this growth was the Transportation Revolution. The growth of this industry created growth in other industries such as agriculture. Secretary of Treasury Albert Gallatin proposed a plan called "internal improvements" that called for the improvements of roads and other transportation systems. However, this proposal was denied.
 * In the wake of the War of 1812, where people realized how cumbersome the transportation system was, private corporations built roads and attempted to profit from tolls but people just walked around these tolls and eventually these tolls were unprofitable.





[[image:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Fultonnshc.jpg align="right" caption="Fulton Statute"]]
Robert Fulton, in 1811, put steamboats in commercial use. Since rivers only flowed one way and boats had to be scrapped one they made it to there destination the steamboat was created which was powered by a steam engine and could travel up and down river.
 * From 1820-1850 it was of the "Age of the Steamboat."
 * But you could only transport items along rivers. So to effectively and efficiently transport good canals were built.
 * To overcome obstacles such as mountains, cable cars were made to transport canal boats. The cost of canals was expensive in building and in up keep.
 * Canals were replaced by the railroad system that used the same type of steam engines in trains as did the steam boats.
 * The railroads were the end of the Transportation Revolution.

Click here for a history of steamboats from the University of Virginia. See also [|History of Steamboats] from the Army Corps of Engineers

Click [|here]for an overview of the age of Canals.

Click here for a map of canals built in the 19th century

A. rivers and canals B. turnpikes and freeways C. pack horses and mule trains D. ox carts and Conestoga wagons ANSWER: A
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Test_hq3x.png width="72" height="32"]]Test Question**
 * In the mid 19th century, before railroads were constructed, people in the United States transported commercial materials, such as timber and coal, over long distances primarily by means of**

Read about African-Americans' involvement building the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, here

The Erie Canal

 * The Erie Canal was designed to connect the port of New York City and Lake Erie.
 * Built from July 4, 1817 to October 25, 1825
 * Congress approved funding for the Great Western Canal
 * President James Monroe felt it was unconstitutional and vetoed the bill
 * New York State approved funding and would pay back the State Treasury with tolls
 * Wealthy farmers along route were contracted to build small sections
 * British, German, and Irish immigrants were the people who actually dug out the canal
 * The canal cost $7 million to create
 * Before the canal, shipping from New York to Buffalo cost $100
 * The canal dropped shipping to $10
 * Click here for more details on the Erie Canal
 * Click [|here]for information on the boats used in the Canal.
 * Link to Two Hundred Years on the Erie Canal


 * [[image:Screen Shot 2016-01-04 at 11.31.08 AM.png link="@http://www.teachersdomain.org/assets/wgbh/midlit10/midlit10_doc_splerietg/midlit10_doc_splerietg.pdf"]]Building the Erie Canal,** an interactive lesson with student writing about how the Erie Canal affected the geographic, economic, and political character of the United States, from Teachers Domain

Images of the Erie Canal

For more on the Erie Canal, see the book //Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation// by Peter L. Bernstein (W. W. Norton, 2005).

An important result of the building of canals in the United States in the 1800s was that: A. slavery spread to the western states B. people stopped building railroads C. more people traveled to California to farm D. trade increased among the states

Correct Answer: D (Question taken from the 2010 National Assessment of Education Progress)



** Early Railroads and the Transcontinental Railway **
Railroads could be built anywhere and carry many tons of freight and people.
 * Americans were inspired by the English, who were the first to lay railroads.
 * Baltimore, the third largest city in the nation in 1827, soon recognized that the development of a railway could make the city more competitive with New York and the Erie Canal in transporting people and goods to the West.
 * The result was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first railroad to be charted in the United States. New railroads came swiftly.

See ** Tears, Trains and Triumphs: The Historical Legacy of African Americans and Pennsylvania's Railroads ** from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. 20,000 slaves were utilized in building railroads in the South before the Civil War

"Crash Course: The Railroad Journey and the Industrial Revolution

**The Transcontinental Railroad**
**See United States History II.1 for more on the development of the transcontinental railroad.**
 * **See also Dramatic Event page on The Transcontinental Railroad**
 * [|Click here] for a brief Overview of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Perhaps the greatest physical feat of 19th century America was the creation of the **Transcontinental Railroad**. It was to be made up of two combining railroads: the Central Pacific (starting from San Francisco) and the Union Pacific (starting in Omaha, Nebraska). The railway was completed on May 10, 1869.

Despite its huge impact on the nature of transportation and the benefits it afforded merchants and travelers, the Transcontinental Railroad adversely impacted the lives of Native Americans.
 * Read about it here

During the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad, many laborers came over from China and worked under poor conditions.
 * Stanford University has collected a large amount of information on these workers. Access their archive [|here].

Bridging the Mississippi
 * Learn how railroad builders dealt with issues such as preexisting bridges and water masses that effected railroad building and how these problems effected larger issues such as commerce

WATCH: "The Transportation Revolution: From Turnpikes to Steamboats to Railroads

Read an emigrant woman's letter home detailing her experience on the Transcontinental Railroad, here

Click here for a BBC documentary all about the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad. It is separated into 5 different parts. Click here for an interactive map to track the progress of the Transcontinental Railroad Click here and here for lesson plans on the Transcontinental Railroad Click here for information on the workers who created the Transcontinental Railroad
 * Click here for excerpts from primary sources on the Transcontinental Railroad
 * Click here for the Pacific Railway Act

Click [|Here]for a list of several work songs sung by crews building the railroads.

Click here to read about how the Transportation Revolution led to the upsurge in market economy.

Link Describing the Evolution of US transportation

Transportation Revolution Lesson Plan

Image IDs from left to right
1. Wikimedia Commons, "Wabash and Erie Canal (Delphi)". 2. Wikimedia Commons, "Blackstonevalleymap". 3. Wikimedia Commons, "South Hadley Canal (Massachusetts) map". 4. Era of Good Feelings Youtube from user theinstructorchrisS, "James Monroe and the Era of Good Feelings". 5. Wikimedia Commons, "Fulton". 6. Wikimedia Commons, "Clermont illustration - Robert Fulton - Project Gutenberg eText 15161".