How Did The Industrial Revolution Change Transportation

Inventions and innovations most likely permanently change the path of society. Such inventions influence a society's economy and society in both a short term and a long term manner.

The Industrial Revolution was a period between the late 1700’s and mid 1800’s in which the process of manufacturing and processing goods drastically improved. The American Industrial Revolution commenced when ideas from Britain- whose Industrial Revolution began -were transferred to the United States in order to improve the standard of living. Prior to this era of industrialization, citizens of the United States realized that the manufacturing occurring in farms and rural areas wasn’t enough; they also feared that crops might fall, which would ultimately lead to

Essentially, the steamboat drastically changed transportation, in a revolutionary movement known as the Transportation Revolution. Prior to the Industrial Revolution and the invention of the steam engine itself, transportation was not effective, to say the least. Although there was an increasing amount of roads, horse carriage had a very limited capacity as to how many people they could carry and how many goods they can carry for trade. Shortly after, a woeful period known as the Panic of 1819 commenced, which called for new means of transportation. During the Panic of 1819, which was a collapse in the, lasting two years James Monroe gave an address on how “[the United States should] include a transportation network to grow and thrive economically… [but, the] Constitution [did not state] anything about the authority to build, maintain, and operate a national transportation system.” During the panic of 1819, citizens also realized how disconnected the country was and how transporting any types of goods directly correlated with hassle and a large

The steamboat was so popular, in Chapter 200 of the New York Laws of 1811, there was an act "encourag[ing]... steamboats on the waters of this state and for other purposes.” Moreover, as the number of steamboats increased, enthusiasm grew for building canals so that travel could be made easier and more convenient via steamboats . During the early 1800’s, canals were sparsely used, as flatboat were very ineffective, inefficient and could only make a one way trip and not the way back before it would fragment into pieces. However, as the steamboat gained more attention, the need to build canals was growing. Citizens have dreamt of building a canal that connected the Great Lakes to New York City, but the government wouldn't aid in this canal. However, after protesting and petitioning, Dewitt Clinton convinced New York's legislature to construct a canal. Construction started in 1817 and the canal was completed in 1825, spanning over 350 miles between the Great Lakes and New York. An immediate success, the canal efficiently connected the Great Lakes and the Hudson river of New York, bringing in more than 100 million dollars of revenue. The evident and monumental success of the Erie Canal led to the Canal Age, in which more canals were built, connecting the country more