1. The Development of Transportation Infrastructure in 19th Century America

2. Post War of 1812
CONSIDER: Why did the American manufacturing industry grow significantly in the post War of 1812 years?
Hint: Think of who we were fighting, and therefore no longer able to trade with?

3. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Population Growth:

4. Public vs. Private: The Internal Improvements Debate
In 1800, the United States was geographically large but with a small population.
Other than population centers, much of the infant United States was largely uninhabited.
The vast expanses of wilderness made transportation difficult in a time before railroads.
After the War of 1812, South Carolina John C. Calhoun proposed a program where the federal government would pay for an expansion of infrastructure.
Roads
Canals
Railroads
Transportation
Henry Clay proposed a 3 part American System
Protective Tariffs
A renewed national bank
Internal improvements
President Madison shot both down, saying the national government was not responsible for funding projects in individual states.
President James Madison
Henry Clay

5. Roads
Pennsylvania’s Lancaster Turnpike, was built in the 1790’s. It connected Philadelphia with the rich farmlands around Lancaster. Its success pushed for the construction of other private roads that by the mid 1820’s connected most of the country’s major cities.
There was a growing need for interstate roads, but states’ rights promoters blocked the use of federal funds for such roads.

6. Robert Fulton and the Steamboat
"What sir, would you make a ship sail against the winds and current by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense." Napoleon I to Robert Fulton
On 7 August 1807, Robert Fulton launched the steamboat Claremont on the Hudson River for a trip between New York City and Albany.
The Claremont completed the 150 mile trip in just over 32 hours, an astonishing speed against the current for the time.
Although the Claremont was not the first steamboat, it was the first steamboat that was economically viable.
By 1811, Fulton’s had taken the steamboat to the Mississippi River and, in 1819, the Savannah crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a combination of steam and sail.
The introduction of steam power meant that transportation was no longer reliant on animals, wind, and currents.
The Claremont

7. The Erie Canal
Before the invention of the railroad, the only practical means of moving heavy objects around the country was by water.
This proved an impediment to commerce as the two major American ports, Baltimore and New York, were not served by rivers.
This meant that goods had to be offloaded from barges and carried overland to the port for shipping.
In 1817, months after Madison vetoed the internal improvements bill, New York began construction of a canal to link New York Harbor with the Hudson River and the Great Lakes beyond.
When the canal was completed in 1825, the cost of transporting one ton of wheat across New York fell from $100 to $5. A journey that had taken 20 days could now be competed in 10.
Though improved, the Erie Canal remains in operation
The Erie Canal circa 1829
In its first year of operation 185,000 tons of merchandise was moved on the Erie Canal. This included 562,000 bushels of wheat, 221,000 barrels of flour, and 435,000 gallons of whiskey.

8. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
In 1827, the Baltimore and Ohio became the first railroad in the U.S. chartered to carry passengers and freight.
The railroad had not yet been invented when the Erie Canal was built.
Designed to link Baltimore Harbor with the Ohio River, the B&O eventually covered the Eastern seaboard and reached as far west as Chicago and continued operation until 1986.
In 1830, there were 23 miles of railroad in the United States. By 1840 it had increased to 2,808 miles of track. By 1860, 30,626 miles of track had been laid in the United States.
The Tom Thumb, the first locomotive on the B&O Railroad.

9. Industrial Progress The Cotton Gin Stocks/Investments Factory System
Eli Whitney
Interchangeable Parts (Rifles)
Stocks/Investments
Factory System
Water Power
Immigrants
Women
Children
Unions
In response to the factory movement
Reduce work hours
Increase pay
Immigrant workers?
State laws outlawing unions
High unemployment
Farming becomes big business.

10. Cotton Gin

11. Cotton Gin and Society
1793: Transformed the agriculture of the entire South.
Created cotton as a cash crop.
Allowed for quickly removing the seeds from the cotton.
Made cotton more profitable than tobacco and indigo.
This new income was used to purchase slaves and new land in Alabama and Mississippi.
Much of the cotton was shipped to Great Britain

12. Cotton Gin and Slavery
Early 1800’s: Many people in society ‘hoped’ that slavery would die out as an institution.
Rather than actually deal with the issue (MAKE IT ILLEGAL), people just hoped it would go away.
It may have actually gone away without the Cotton Gin.
This massive cash crop made the institution of slavery far too profitable to get rid of.
The arguments over the Missouri Compromise backed this up

13. Population of Enslaved African-Americans
1800
1830
1860
New York
20,613 75
BIG FAT ZERO!
Maryland
106,635
102,994
87,189
Virginia
346,671
469,767
490,865
Georgia
59,699
217,531
462,198
Alabama --
117,549
435,080
Mississippi
65,659
436,631
Arkansas
4,576
111,115
All States
893,605
2,009,043
3,953,760