Transportation Revolution 1815-1840
Transportation was the crucial ingredient in the success of the United States at the beginning of the 19th century. Americans counted on reliable forms of transportation to aid with trade, growth, and industrial progress. By building roads, canals, and railroads, the country changed its economy, politics, and society. The transportation revolution from 1815-1840 paved the way for the industrial and technological revolutions yet to come.
Conestogas and prairie schooners were the main form of transportation to the far west. They had large wheels and were usually pulled by a number of horse or oxen. They could carry only relatively light loads but were the choice of many of the western settlers as they moved across the Great Plains. The wagons traveled along long roads and trails, the most famous probably being the Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail, which stretched about 3,200 km from Independence, Mo., to Fort Vancouver WA, carried thousands of pioneers to the rich farmland of the Willamette Valley in the Oregon country. Settlers poured into California, Oregon, and Washington using these unique devices and helped to expand our country to its present day borders.
Robert Fulton's steam boat was one of the most influential inventions in the water. Traders no longer had to rely on the wind to move their vessels, this saved a great deal of time as well as money. These boats traveled not only rivers and lakes but also along the increasingly common canals. The Miami and Erie Canal connected the Ohio River with the Lake Erie while the Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Lake Michigan. These forms of transportation began to be threatened by another innovation, the railroad, but continued to be widely utilized until the Civil War.
The railroad was the most important transportation advancement during the early 19th century. This invention was responsible for bring the United States into the increasingly industrial world. These trains could pull heavy cargo loads and could run on a set schedule. In 1830 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad opened to increase trade with the western part of the country. On Christmas Day, 1830, the South Carolina Railroad began passenger service with the U.S. built Best Friend of the Charleston, making it the first railroad in the nation to use steam power in regular service. In 1833 the 136-mile Charleston and Hamburg line was completed and for the time was the longest in the world. By 1840 more than 4,480 km of railroad had been laid down and in operation throughout the country. The railroad was very key in the transportation revolution the country was undergoing.
The new forms of transportation now available to the farmers and merchants expanded new horizon for trade. The competition between steamboats and railroads led to the gradual decline in the cost of shipping goods. The country could now more easily enter the world market and compete price wise on many of the European markets. The government subscribed to stock of a few canal companies and gave modest land grants to some canal projects. Land grants were also granted to many of the railroad projects. As a result the railroads gave special rates to the government, often as much as 50% off the shipment of federal freight and troops. These new ways of getting goods from point A, to point B led the country to economic independence.
As shown throughout history a nations unity and power vary directly with the successes and failures of its transportation system. Due to the improved transportation the nations borders were more easily protected and land claimed much more easily. This also led to settlement of new areas. These areas became states, and then the debate on whether they should be a slave state or not would begin. Politically there were moderate changes caused by the new forms of transportation.
The social effect of transportation could also be seen throughout the country. The improved transportation increased Americans mobility, which in turn allowed a wider range of ideological and cultural exchange. It reduced the isolation of the western part of the United States and opened more facilities to the settlers as well as the farmers and merchants. The growth of many of the nations large cities, such as the rail town Chicago, were dependent on the growth of the transportation system.
The new transportation inventions and innovations led the United States into an Era of increased prosperity. The railroad, steamships, and roadways all played important roles in the growth of the nation. They also had major effects on the country economically, politically, and socially. The transportation revolution between 1815-1840 was one of the most crucial in our country's history.
Works Cited
Enduring Visions, CD Rom
Ransom, J., The Archaeology of the Transport Revolution, Boston MA: Boulder Press, 1984.
Wheat, Carl I., Mapping the Transmississippi West, 1540- 1861, 6 vols., San Francisco: Institution of History Cartography, 1957-1963, V.II