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Transportation: The Role Of Transportation In Pre-Civil War

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Back in pre-Civil War times there were several modes of transportation created. This started to make life easier for people, they could send things, buy goods and travel far more than they used to. The definition of transportation is “means of conveyance or travel from one place to another (Transportation, 2017).” Transportation had a role in the Civil War that greatly defined the United States’ desire for change. The United States was starting to become a country that revolutionized quickly and made machines to progress with the pace of time. Many methods of transportation came about during the 1800’s. Horse drawn carriages were the main private mode of transportation the people used daily. Toll roads known as, “turnpikes” were paved roads while “shunpikes” were short local detours to avoid the toll roads. Steamboats invented by Robert Fulton and these made upriver travel possible. Iron bridges were built to not impede river traffic and allow road travel across water. Canals were also built to connect existing waterways. One famous canal in particular is the Erie Canal. This is 363 …show more content…

This was the railroad. This was a form of transportation that used tracks, trains of passenger and freight cars were pulled by the engine that was steam-powered. The railroad was then capable of carrying goods to one place to another. There was a mass isolation that the railroad bridged, therefore connecting the country, allowing travel and shipments to occur much easier and faster. “Before the railroad shattered the sectional isolation of the nation, travel was particularly difficult in the west, especially the mountains and arid regions (Grant, 2000).” The rail system had a network of over thirty thousand miles in the United States. During the Civil War, transportation was a critical part of the daily lives of the soldiers because just by the horn they knew reimbursements were

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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

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