1900-1814 Water Transportation

During the 19th Century, the United States was downright obsessed with expanding westward. They believed it was their God-given right to span the entire continent. With more and more territories being added to the ever-growing roster, they needed a way to get from point A to point B quickly. The solution: The Erie Canal and the Transcontinental Railroad. The result: A huge growth in the U.S.’s economy.

Due to the bicycle movement, the importance of road maintenance returned in the nineteenth century along with the building of the National Road created smoother journeys on land. While in the 1820’s the Erie Canal opened to the public allowed for exponentially faster and cheaper transport of products through the country by water. These advancements in transportation made people, information, and goods mobile meaning there was no longer a need to trade local since a farmer could sell his products nationally for a profit. However, these improvements would not be possible without the private contributions of investors to build these infrastructures.

Once railroads were built, shipping by them became increasingly popular. Shipping domestically became cheaper and quicker, which elevated the U.S. economy. In Document E, the cost to ship by wagon is recorded to be twenty times the cost by railroad. Furthermore, the article describes wagon shipping “ was $1.77, while by rail it was less than a tenth of that amount.” Before the invention of the Transcontinental Railroad, trade was limited to wagons being driven for days on end. Few people considered the drive, so the price was high to ship. Besides high prices, canals were

Canals, waterways built for transportation, were also built for the shipment of goods and with the creation of the steamboat, canals could be used effectively. Another totally new form of transportation, the railroad, was created and by the time the 1860s hit, more than 30,000 miles of railroad tracks had been set down. Lastly, the telegraph

The market revolution was a relatively rough time for American settlers. Life was pretty hard because of the quick, drastic changes that were taking place, but these changes also resulted in a very good factor of America that still stands today serving every citizen, transportation. So while the market revolution was stressing the Americans, there was a large book in population, and the increase of transportation, which would cut travel times by whole days at a time. The changes of the market revolution may sound like they were rushed into existence, the markets actually just naturally evolved.

Numerous factors brought unity to an adolescent nation which prevailed the confidence Americans needed for self-identity. As rapid mass-communication and transportation became easily available, any individual had the luxury of pursuing a life with personal freedoms just a grasp away. Moving west was made attractive for numerous reasons. For example, shipping products such as beaver fur enable a fashionable trend which sparked a demand in garments. The construction of the Erie Canal in 1825 that connected the Great Lakes with the Hudson River boomed the motivation, whether it was cost effective or not, completing miles into small distances, according to a journalist, “In thirty-six minutes we had passed near three miles, and reached the east of an embankment about 136 chains long across the valley of the Sedaqueda creek”. This economic process boomed with new opportunities for average Americans during the Era of Good Feeling. The early republic also had more busted effects from internal

Unfortunately, with few exceptions, navigable rivers and lakes did not link up conveniently to form usable transportation networks. Before the war of 1812m some Americans considered canals as a likely solution, but enormous costs and engineering problems had limited canal construction to less than 100 miles. After the war, the entry of development opened the way to an era of canal building. New York State was most successful at canal development. In 1817 the state started work on on a canal that would run over more than 350 miles’ form Lake Erie to the Hudson River. About three thousand workers worked on digging a huge ditch that would eventually form the Erie Canal. The last leg was completed in 1825 and the first freight boat made its way from Buffalo to Albany and then on to New York

The Economical Impact of the Erie Canal The Erie Canal was a huge economic boost to the U.S. and New York, but what aspects of the commercial United States did it improve? First of all, it greatly advanced the industrial level of New York. According to the New York State Canal Corporation, “Prior to the construction of the canal, New York City was the nation’s fifth largest seaport……. Within fifteen years of opening [Erie Canal], New York [City], was the busiest port in America…”(Doc. 1B).

In the early 19th century the transportation of goods between the east and west was expensive and time consuming. The normal way of transportation before the canal, was by horse drawn carriages. Then the bold idea of the Erie Canal was proposed to ease the tiring commute. The Erie canal was intentionally built to open the country west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers. The canal would also provide a safe, cheaper way for produce to be carried to various markets. The canal then became the fastest way

Although the canal did not receive much support in the beginning, it soon proved to be a great benefit to New York and the entire country. Once the Erie Canal opened, shipping costs from New York to the Midwest dropped from $100 a ton to less than $10 a ton, and the time it took to ship the goods was cut down by a third. This greatly increased trade for New York City businesses. Many settlers used the canal to travel to upstate New York and points farther west. This influx of people opened up new markets for New York City businesses. It also increased the financial and physical growth of cities along the canal route. Many people ask "so what we could have waited for

During the revolution, new roads, financed by tolls, then began developing. One major road was the National Road that reached from Maryland to West Virginia. Another new form of transportation was canals, which was cheaper and more efficient. A significant improvement in transportation was the steamboat, which reduced the cost of transportation, moved people and goods faster, and allowed a two-way commerce on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Railroads were also a significant development because it allowed fast travel on land. Factories developed during this time, and people began working there instead of at home. All of these changes allowed people to produce goods to sell more than to keep for themselves, and the economy

Novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote that "Its water (served as a miraculous) fertilizer, (for) it causes towns with their masses of brick and stone, their churches and theatres, their business...to spring up." In its financing by the state government, the Erie Canal epitomized the developing transportation infrastructure. The vast expanse of the Erie Canal created a network that linked the Atlantic states with the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys that drastically reduced the cost of transportation. While canals connected waterways, the railroad opened vast new areas of the American interior to settlement, while stimulating the mining of coal for fuel and the manufacture of iron for locomotives and rails. By 1860, the railroad network had grown to 30,000 miles, a total more than the rest of the world 's railroads combined. The United States was able to grow following the War of 1812 due to innovations in transportation which allowed for cheaper, faster, and more efficient trading of goods within the United States.

The Erie canal helped shape America. The Northwest was expanding and needed to get their products to the east coast. However, they seemed to be lacking a water source. Since the Erie canal was connected from the Hudson river to the Great lakes this made it possible for farmers to transport goods to the east coast without a problem. The Erie canal paved the pathway to a more stable America and an economic growth by allowing transportation, trade, exporting and importing goods to be more accessible through the United States. “This great work will immortalize the present authorities of N.Y. will bless their descendants with wealth and prosperity, and prove to mankind the superiority wisdom of employing the resources of industry in works of improvement rather than destruction.” The canal combined trade and transportation allowing for commerce to help speed up the Industrialization in the United States after the Erie canal was

This made it very hard for the individual states to come up with the money. Usually private investors took care of this issue (Roark, 260). Canals were another way for an increase in transportation. They would connect cities, such as the Erie Canal, which covered the area between Albany and Buffalo and connecting New York City to the area of the Great Lakes (Roark, 261). Railroads also came into the picture with the first railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio in 1829 (Roark, 262).

Railroads were faster and cheaper than canals to construct, and they did not freeze over in the winter. Steamboats played a vital role in the United States economy as well. They stimulated the agricultural economy of the west by providing better access to markets at a lower cost. Farmers quickly bought land near navigable rivers, because they could ship their products out to other countries. Due to the foreign trade it helped strengthen the trade relationship between New England and the Northwest. The transportation development had many positive economic changes in the United States.