Advantages And Disadvantages Of Cumberland Road

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 Erie Canal provided an extremely fast source of transportation compared to other ones of that time. A lot of the land that the Canal went through was uninhabited and therefore people weren’t able to move through these areas. Once the Canal was built it served as that pathway through these areas. The Canal also was a much cheaper source of transportation that was used by residents, tourists, emigrants, and workers during this time. Evangelical preachers used the artificial

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.

Following the War of 1812, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and John Quincy Adams helped form a new political agenda, which promised to meet the needs of America. It was a new nationalist United States. Henry Clay's "American System" was a neofederalist program of a national bank, a tariff to promote and protect industry’s, and financial improvements.

Have you ever needed easier access to the essential items to stay alive? This is specifically what the residents of the North-East thought around the year 1817. Carol Sheriff argues in her book, “The Artificial River” that the residents of the canal corridor actively sought after long-distance trade and therefore consumer goods that markets brought to their homes. The fact that people supported the Erie Canal at all "suggests that at least some aspired to engage in broader market exchange" (p. 11). The transformation of this region because of the Erie Canal is organized around six topics, each of which is covered by a chapter. They include the; Visions of Progress, the Triumph of Art over Nature, Reducing Distance and Time, the Politics of Land and Water, the Politics of Business, and the Perils of Progress.

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

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

Many Americans such as James Monroe and Henry Clay put their ideas into motion by crafting documents and plans to further their respective progress. Monroe, who was president at the time, teamed up with Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to form the Monroe Doctrine. This was a determined effort to end all European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere, this plan was formatted around for major points: (1)  the American continents are no longer subjects for future European colonization; (2) Any political system of European that tried to be enforced in the Western Hemisphere is “dangerous to our peace and safety”; (3) the U.S. is not to interfere with any existing European colonies; (4) finally that the United States would not take part in internal affairs or wars between European nations (America Shi, Tindall 309)(week 9 notes). Henry Clay, on the other hand, crafted the American System, a plan to strengthen and unify the United States. Clay promoted the use of high tariffs on imports to block the sale of British goods in the U.S. in order to protect the fragile domestic market from foreign competition. In order to rally support, Clay beckoned the federal government to utilize this influx in revenue to improvements in the West such as roads, canals, and other “internal improvements”. Clay also endorsed a strong national bank to create single national currency and to regulate the

The American System was a plan created by Henry Clay. It had three parts to it, that Henry Clay was hoping would bring the nation closer together, and benefit everyone. It called for a strong banking system that would provide easy and abundant credit, He also put in place a protective tariff. The revenue from the tariff would pay for the third part of the American System, the creation of roads and canals, mainly into the new Ohio Valley. Food and equipment would flow freely over these new routs, increasing trade and business greatly throughout most of the states. The American System of Henry Clay never came to fruition, however. President Madison deemed it unconstitutional, and instead, Congress voted to distribute $1.5 million to the 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

Tariff laws on imports were mostly for profit of the northern states and did not benefit the southern states. In 1816 the people wrote to congress about how it was unfair for them to favor the manufacturers. For the power given to them was given so they could regulate and equalize commerce. (Doc A) Document A was written for Congress to explain how the south felt about the tariff acts. In 1817 another letter was sent to congress about how infrastructures can help bring the country back together. (Doc B) The main thing isolating the south was the Erie Canal because it connects the north and west for trading purpose. Trading between the north and west made money flow between the two to help their economies grow while leaving the south to fend for themselves. Innovations like factories in the north are why more people emigrated meaning more and better job opportunities. While in the south there is a smaller population for the simple fact they are farmers and plantation owners. (Doc E) Henry Clay’s American system consisted of three mutually reinforcing parts. He wanted a tariff to protect and promote American industry, a national bank to foster commerce and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other "internal improvements". The entire point of the plan was toto develop profitable markets for

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).

The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.

Nineteenth century America was a time of rapid growth and expansion. The movement of settlers further and further west accompanied by technological advances led to the major growth of cities and industries across the American frontier. However, it was the major innovations of transportation that had the most significant impact on the expansion of Midwestern and western America. The construction of canals and roads led to the increase in the use of stagecoaches, steamboats, and ultimately railroads.

Transportation was improved. New forms of transportation included steam power, improved roads, railroads, bridges, canals and ships. These new improved mean of transportation allowed people to travel cross country and to ship goods to new markets in a matter of days as opposed to months. The railroads eventually became the nation’s number one transportation system, and remained so until the construction of the interstate highway halfway during the Twentieth century. The late 19th century belonged to the railroads. They were of crucial importance in stimulating economic expansion (American History).