Innovations in transportation and technology

Transportation Technologies Steamboats -Change in travel of freight. Reliability Canals -Erie Canal(1825) Linked western farmers with eastern manufactures Railroad -Thousands of miles laid by 1850 Turnpikes -Development of land based infrastructure Telegraphs -Long distance communication Transatlantic Cable 1858

Developments in Transportation Transportation was essential to economic development, and the need became more critical with westward. There was no doubt that you needed roads, waterways, and communication lines to unify the 13 colonies into a nation.   Concentration of populations in sparse, far cities. Because of advances in the agriculture industry (cotton) there was a higher pressure on what little infrastructure there was in place.

Agricultural technologies The Cotton Gin -First major innovation in agriculture (1793) The Steel Plow -Replaced out-of-date oxen driven wooden plows Mechanical Mower-Reaper -Huge gains (quintupled) in wheat harvests in the west

Developments in Agriculture Western farmers began experiencing surpluses , and sold the extra to the manufacturing northeast. Southern planters abandoned almost all other crops in favor of the newly profitable cotton. In addition, planters required enormous increases in slave labor to plant enough cotton to take advantage of their new production capacity. As a result, thousands more slaves from Africa and the West Indies were purchased before the slave trade was banned in 1808

North vs. South Few canals or means of transportation were built in the south (food). Relied on Atlantic shipping for to send raw products to the north. Isolation in the south prevented it from advancing its standard of living on par with the north and west. Far better transportation in the north would mean a heavy advantage in the upcoming Civil War

Regional Specializations Over time, regional specialization emerged: the West farmed to feed the Northeast, the South grew cotton to ship to the Northeast, and the Northeast produced manufactured goods to sell in the West and South.

Government Involvement Before 1824, government played little roles in transportation development. After the court case Gibbons vs. Ogden in 1824, the government was allowed a bigger part. Later on, federal government ended up aiding the revolution by subsidizing the railway and giving companies huge plots of land grants that the government had already surveyed. Also reduced tariffs on construction materials…such as iron and lumber.

Bibliography A History of Us -Joy Harkim The American Economy A Historical Encyclopedia -Cynthia L. Clark Give Me Liberty -Eric Foner The Industrial Revolution in America -Corona Brezina