Robert Fulton: Creating The Steamboat

Cornelius Vanderbilt was one of the most influential people of the 19th century by being a shipping and railroad tycoon (history.com). He shaped the way future American businesses will operate. Vanderbilt was a ruthless and competitive man (history.com). This approach to business will be what helps him to defeat a Steamboat Monopoly granted by the New York Legislature. This ruling in the law will influence future court cases (McBride, “Landmark Cases”).

Not only were economics majorly revolutionized during this time period but transportation transformed as well. Before the invention of the steam engine, goods were hauled by horse drawn carriages and the journey was a long and difficult one. Robert Fulton was the first to build a steamboat successfully. This caused for a wave of change and soon goods were hauled across the Atlantic (“Industrial Revolution”) After the rapid success of the steamboat, soon steam locomotives began to take the spotlight. The steamboat and locomotive enabled Americans to travel to different parts of the country in less tie add connected the U.S in a way that it had never been before.

The first steamboat, which came to be known as the Clermont, was constructed by Robert Fulton in 1807. This development in transportation was huge. People could now ride rivers upstream as well as downstream, regardless of winds, waves, or tides. Steamboats were an important invention because they played a vital role in the opening of the West and the South, both of which had many easily navigable rivers. Towns soon began to develop along the banks of often-traversed rivers. Now farmers could ship in and out their produce and any manufactured necessities at a much lower cost.

Before the Civil War there were things that the North and the South needed to use to move things around the place. There are two things that were most important. The train that was the most important was the R.R locomotive and the man that made that was Richard Trevithick. They moved the steal and other things on the rail and the R.R was used in the North more than the South. They also used boats. Since they did not have steam boats, they used row boats. The guy that made the steam boats was John Fitch. They used the steam boats to carry cotton up and down the rivers. They used trains and steam boats to move cotton and steal during the

During the Antebellum era there were a large number of advancements in transportation technology, such as railroads being placed all over the United States. There was also the building of numerous bridges and canals, and the development of the steamboat. During the pre-civil war period there was a huge expansion of railroads all over the country According to the web site quizlet, “From 1833 to 1850 the amount of railroad tracks increased from 136 miles to 9,000 miles” (http://quizlet.com). The first steam engine was built in 1804 by Richard Trevithick. The steam engine that was most commonly used on rail ways was that built by George Stephenson. According to Mary Bellis the author of The History of Railroad Innovations, “Stephenson's locomotive pulled six loaded coal cars and 21 passenger cars with 450 passengers over 9 miles in about one hour” (http://inventors.about.com). The growth of railroad use was a huge advancement in technology, because it helped transport people and goods to

The following presentation encompases two major historical milestones in the development of american engineering and ingenuity. The first being the development of the steam engine and the second the invention of the telegraph.

What would Americans do if they couldn’t travel anywhere on roads? How would goods be transferred to the United States from other countries without canals? These are the questions that many U.S. citizens were asking themselves in the early 1800s. Towards the end of the 1700s transportation needs in the U.S. were extreme. The federal and state governments were directing more attention to this need for the country and were quick to come up with a solution. Henry Clay, who was a member of the United States House of Representatives, came up with the genius idea of the American System including the construction of canals and railroads. This would soon be the most important influence on the growth of Industry in America, especially with the National

Another great invention of transportation during this time was the train. America’s first train was invented by George Stephenson in 1822, and by 1825 the train was the first locomotive. Obviously everything at this time was made by hand, and every part of this engine had to be hammered into shape just like a horseshoe. John Thorswall, a coalmine blacksmith, was George’s assistant. The invention of George was very important in America because it allowed transportation from place to place in a quicker time. This boosted the economy by helping distribute many goods all around the country. Even letters were being delivered faster, so communication was increasing.

A few days ago I went on the fastest steamboat in America! It is known as the Natchez. We left the school to head to the Natchez at ten in the morning. We arrived around Ten Forty-Five, but we did not start boarding until eleven. We immediately where sent to the dinning room for lunch. The menu was all New Orleans food, which was expected since it is a New Orleans boat. The food that was available was catfish, mashed potatoes, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and pasta salad, which is cold noodles and olives. In my opinion the food wasn't all that great but some of classmates really enjoyed the food. The drinks where water and ta but there was also alcohol for the adults. When we finished lunch

In the summer of 1830, Kenneth McKenzie (“King of Missouri”) suggested to Pierre Chouteau (Jr., Western agent for John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company) that a steamboat could transport trade goods and supplies up the Missouri River and carry furs and skins on the return trip. In November of 1830 Chouteau placed an order with two firms in Louisville for the Yellow Stone (Yellow Stone is a side wheeler steamboat was the first steam powered boat to reach above Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the Missouri River).

A man by the name of James Watts introduced the first steam powered engine that would soon be used to power several forms of transportation. The steam engine had been around for a while, but wasn’t as advanced and wasn’t used on such a large scale such as powering transportation. Boats had been used for centuries for the main forms of transport, however, when Robert Fulton put the new steam engine to work to power a steamboat, it meant even more capital for businessmen. More jobs were created as the waterways were widened and dug deeper for the steamboats. Captains and crews were also formed to man the boats.

In addition with the invention of the steam engine came the steam locomotive. As the development of steam engines progressed through the 18th century, various attempts were made to apply them to road and railway us. In 1812 Matthew Murray was the first to build a successful steam locomotive, and it hauled 27 carts of around 95 tonnes at 3 mph. Accompanied with this came Richard Trevithick’s 40 psi steam locomotive, The Penydarren Locomotive, “the world's first ever railway journey that ran 9 miles from the ironworks at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal, South Wales.” This creation lead to many more innovations, which will lead to speedy land travel for goods and products.

Imagine an invention that could take people to where they wanted to go, created larger trade markets, and created very successful businesses. Robert Fulton was the inventor of the steamboat in America. He knew there was another way of travel

Another man that is mistakenly given a lot of credit for the invention of the steam engine is Edward Somerset, Marquis of Worcester.  The Marquis has been hailed as the originator of the machine that was used to raise water by the force of fire.  However, the Marquis never actually built such a machine.  The only machine

Next introduced were steamboats. Shipping by steamboats was cheaper and faster. If one used a wagon, there was the cost of lifting the cargo off the ground and keeping it there as well as the cost of moving the vehicle forward. A water vessel had the advantage of only having the cost of moving forward because the water lifted the cargo. The shallow draft steamboat, however, could carry large amounts of cargo even against the flow of a river. Robert Fulton's Clermont proved the practicality of steamboats in 1807. The Enterprise was introduced by Henry Shreve in 1814 and proved to be the answer to transportation across shallow western waters. By 1820, there were 60 steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and countless others elsewhere.