12.2 Moving West pp. 392-397

Objectives: Discuss why Americans moved west in the early 1800s. Describe how transportation improved in the early 1800s.

A. The Wilderness Road (pp. 392-393) Many people packed their belongings and moved to unsettled areas in the West, where the land was cheap and fertile. Many rode west in Conestoga wagons, canvas-topped wagons pulled by teams of livestock. For years the main avenue west was the Wilderness Road, a rocky trail through the Appalachian Mountains that was first cleared by Daniel Boone and others on their way to Kentucky.

B. Transportation Systems Improve (p. 394) The increasing numbers of pioneers moving west made it clear that America needed reliable transportation. Some companies built private roads called turnpikes. Travelers on these roads had to pay a toll, or charge, which helped pay the cost of building and maintaining the road.

C. The National Road (p. 394) In 1806 Congress approved government funds to finance building the National Road, which led to the West. The road, with a crushed stone surface and large stone bridges, connected Cumberland, Maryland, with Wheeling, Virginia (later West Virginia). By 1852 the National Road stretched to Vandalia, Illinois.

D. Depending on Waterways (pp. 394-395) While rivers remained the nation’s main avenues of transportation, getting back upriver against the current was always a challenge. Although John Fitch solved this problem with a steamboat he designed in 1785, it was Robert Fulton who launched the first successful steamboat, Clermont, in 1807. Before long, steamboats carried people and goods along the Mississippi River and Great Lakes.

E. Canal Connections (p. 396) For moving heavy goods, Americans depended on canals, channels dug out and filled with water to allow boats to cross a stretch of land. While it took 4 horses to haul a 1.5 ton load on a good road, 2 horses could easily pull a canal boat with 50 tons.

F. Erie Canal (pp. 396-397) The canal-building craze did not really begin, though, until the Erie Canal was completed in 1825. The Erie Canal was the idea of New York Governor De Witt Clinton, who wanted to link the Great Lakes region with the Hudson River and, finally, New York City.

Review: List some improvement made in transportation in the early 1800s. Who invented the first successful steamboat? What are canals? Which famous canal linked the Great Lakes region with New York City?