According to Stuart Moulder, “Prior to the last spike being driven in 1869, the only ways to get from coast to coast of the United States were a months long journey by foot, horseback or (very expensive) carriage” (Moulder). This means that the railroad was not only a new way of transportation, but also a new way of life. To put things into perspective, an article
Nowadays we have the luxury of traveling across the united states in a few days with smooth, paved roads with heat and air conditioned cars. Immigrants of the 1850s had to spend months at a time traveling across the United States. They had rough trails, illnesses, and no bridges to cross rivers. People also didn’t have very reliable wagons, so they had to repair their wagons along the journey. But in the modern days we have reliable cars that are a fast way of transportation.
The development of railroads was perhaps the most significant transportation development of the period. Prior to the Civil War, there were only around 30,000 miles of railroad track in the United States, but by 1900 that number had grown to over 200,000 miles (White,
During the period of 1815-1860, a Transportation Revolution swept through America (Murrin pg. 293). The improvements in transportation included more and better roads. steamboats, canals, and railroads (Murrin pg. 293). These new railroads were able to connect old communities with previously isolated areas (Murrin pg. 293). In 1815 the United States was a rural area stretching from old settlements on the Atlantic coast to the trans-Appalachian west, with transportation facilities spanning from primitive and nonexistent (Murrin pg. 294).
https://bestgedclasses.org/civil-war-north-vs-south-overview/ The main binary opposition between the North and the South in the 1800s was that the North was more economically and technologically advanced. That was the whole ideal, that the North was superior when it came to continuous progress. Well the idea of transportation adds to the binary opposition between the two sides. The North is superior to the South, and so the binary opposition becomes emphasized with anything that proves that ideal.
However, the means of travel kept changing. the first major movement in the way of transportation was the Cumberland Road in 1811. It was the first great federal transportation project and a vital highway to the west; it caused western cities to grow and flourish and increased the land value along the road. Even this major advancement was small. the best way of transportation kept changing and improving, until they hit a stop when they started using railroads.
From around 1800 to 1860, the Antebellum period was a time in which America developed newfound technology rapidly, saw great economic growth, and experienced social reformation movements. However, it is also arguably the time in which the United States was most divided. During this era, one of the most significant events that contributed to American unity were the implementations of improved transportation, which included canals, roads, and railroads. These improvements allowed for faster and easier accessible commerce, provided more efficient means of getting around, and stimulated the growth of smaller communities. Though the nature of these internal improvements may be considered conversational due to the lack of government management at
The Transcontinental Railroad: How it Made America into One Nation The transcontinental railroad changed the United States in the 1800’s in a way never seen before in America. Before the transcontinental railroad, the eastern states and the western states lacked a timely and reliable source of trade, travel, and communication. The nationwide railroad system connected the states in many new ways that helped shaped America into the nation it has now become. The transcontinental railroad improved transportation, commerce, expanded communication, and formed the United States into one nation.
In the 1840s, the steamboat was a very common mode of transportation along the rivers of south-central states. This, of course, resulted in increased business on and around the rivers that run through America. Another transportation mode that was boosted by the expansion was the railway system, as significant numbers of Americans desired to move West. As the century progressed, the railroad system began to expand to help transport both people and large amounts of agriculture goods from place to place. Not only did the expansion of the agricultural industry boost America’s economy, the continuous Westward expansion attracted more Americans to travel and settle Westward; this resulted in further economic growth due to the nation’s expanding transportation networks, the building of new infrastructure, and the settlement of new towns and communities which relied on goods and services to
In 1830 the Baltimore and Ohio railroad tested a steam powered train this lead to Americans developing their own railroads.(pg. 256) Railroads helped transport goods and people move across the country faster than ever before. Railroads were used for many other things including transporting mail from one place to another. This helped people communicate with one another faster. By 1810 and 1820’s the number of letters delivered sent out went up by five million annually and cut the time in half to reach between cities and states.
The Unification of America Through The Transportation Revolution By Robert Beckman From the period 1800 to 1860, many transportation innovations were made as America continued to advance technologically. This period of time was aptly named the transportation revolution as many of the innovations developed in this era laid the foundation of modern infrastructure which supports 360 million Americans each day. The construction of vast road networks and the national road, the invention of the steamboat to transport goods upstream and through canals, and the massive expansion of the railroad system all furthered the unity of the United States by allowing much faster transportation to remote areas of America. Despite political differences, faster
Americans use transportation in everyday life to make things easier. New kinds of transportation made daily life easier, and stores had to fix their ways to follow transportation. One example of this is in the article “The History of Shopping in America '' on page 22 when Carro writes “ In the late 19th century, America’s postal system was becoming faster and more reliable. Railroads were connecting America like never before. It was now possible to deliver goods to parts of the country that were once practically unreachable.”
It was also important for factory owners to deliver goods to customers far away from where these goods were manufactured. One improvement they made to help transportation was making a system of roads. This made it a lot easier for travelling from state to state, and even allowed people to pass through the Appalachian Mountains to more Western states with ease. Though the system of roads helped a lot, river travel was still a lot faster. The Northern states made canals to get across the North like the canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.
Throughout American History, revolutions in transportation have affected the American society politically, socially and economically. Soon after the war of 1812, American nationalism increased which leads to a greater emphasis on national issues, the increase in power and prevalence of the national government and a growing sense of the American Identity. Railways, canals, and Turnpikes began to increase making many people employed. The era of 1830-1860 represents a shift from agrarianism to industrialism. Overall, during the transportation revolution, construction of turnpikes, roads, canals, and railroads led to the market economy expansion, an increased population in America and alternations of the physical landscape of America.
Before the 1800s, there were two early roads, Forbes and Wilderness Road. In 1811, the National Road known as Cumberland Road was built to reach Western settlements, because they needed a road to ship farm products that connect East and West. The National Road passed thousand of wagons and coaches. John F. Stover states in American Railroads, “The rich agricultural production of the country, the small but expanding factories of eastern cities, and the largely untapped natural resources of the nation-all of these called for improvements in transport. ”(Stover1)
