Expansion Of Transportation In America

The transcontinental railroad revolutionized the nation, it was the first railroad to stretch across the United States. It began in 1863 and kept changing transportation and many other areas of life in America long after. The railroad was sometimes called the technological equivalent of manifest destiny. Three of the largest areas that it affected were transportation, industry expansion, and the economy. Transportation was widely influenced by the railroad mainly because of the train’s efficiency.

Rivers flowed only to the North and the South, but not to the East and the West. The first major development in transportation was the building of a network of roads and turnpikes that by the 1820s helped knit together the major urban areas along the eastern seaboard. Roads and Steamboats were a vast improvement in transportation, lowered cost and linked farmers to markets, but they were expensive to maintain. Horse drawn wagons could carry only limited produce. Roads and Steamboats were used to promote trade.

The rise of the cities in America was the Yukon gold rush. It caused the rise of technological innovation that allowed city buildings to increase their surging population. During this time several cities expanded in size after the introduction of transportation. San Francisco was the first to use a cable cars. Subways were built in several states for instance, Boston, New York City and Philadelphia.

Transportation played a key role in allowing the Union to defeat the Confederate States of America. Transportation in the 1860’s was difficult, because it was fairly limited. Especially during the Civil War, with many people and communities wanting to use these things to transport goods or men wherever needed. One type that played a major factor were railroads, there was a major growth in the 1850’s so by 1861 there was 22,000+ miles of track in the northern states, and 9,500+ in the South (Railroads In The Civil War). Countries and town have always fought over who is to control the supply centers or railroads, but with the confederate government to slow to recognize the importance of them, they weren’t in good shape by 1963.

Railroads, roads, and canals changed and improved America in the 1800’s in multiple ways, ways including exploration and expansion. Railroads and roads both helped travel and transportation of objects within America. Railroads and roads also helped get from one point to another in a fraction of the time. Canals helped mainly transportation with other countries and travel time that would accelerate how fast it took a ship to get to it’s destination. Roads helped expansion and exploration.

The mass transit significantly impacted the lives of Americans. The mass transit was a transportation system designed to move large numbers of people along fixed routes. Street cars were introduced in San Francisco in 1873 and electric subways in Boston in 1897. By the early 20th century, mass transit networks in many urban areas linked city neighborhoods to one another and to outlying communities. The mass transit was in the United States.

Throughout American History, revolutions in transportation have affected the American society politically, socially and economically. Soon after the war of 1812, American nationalism increased which leads to a greater emphasis on national issues, the increase in power and prevalence of the national government and a growing sense of the American Identity. Railways, canals, and Turnpikes began to increase making many people employed. The era of 1830-1860 represents a shift from agrarianism to industrialism. Overall, during the transportation revolution, construction of turnpikes, roads, canals, and railroads led to the market economy expansion, an increased population in America and alternations of the physical landscape of America.

With the advent of the railroad, many of these issues disappeared. Railroads had a major impact on advancing the American economy, transforming America into a modern society, and improving an antiquated transportation system. The building of railroads created rapid economic growth in America. Railroad companies employed more than one million workers to build and maintain railroads. At the same time, coal, timber, and steel industries employed thousands of workers to provide the supplies necessary to build railroads (Chapter 12 Industrialization).

According to the article The Railway Journey, modern transportation “created a definite spatial distance between the places of production and the place of consumption did the goods become uprooted commodities” (40 Railroad Journey). Basically, this means that since the railroad allowed goods to be shipped to further distances at faster rates which resulted in mass productions and shipments of goods which resulted in a stable economy for the United

Transportation Revolution The transportation revolution is believed to have begun in 1807 when the government seemed it was going to become active in growing infrastructure. The treasury secretary, at the time, Albert Gallatin was asked to develop “a plan for the application of such means as are within the power of Congress, to the purpose of opening roads and making canals” (W&R). This plan was not to happen and throughout this revolution the government was only responsible for a few projects. Without much government aid, entrepreneurs took matters into their own hands, creating competition.

Before the 1800s, there were two early roads, Forbes and Wilderness Road. In 1811, the National Road known as Cumberland Road was built to reach Western settlements, because they needed a road to ship farm products that connect East and West. The National Road passed thousand of wagons and coaches. John F. Stover states in American Railroads, “The rich agricultural production of the country, the small but expanding factories of eastern cities, and the largely untapped natural resources of the nation-all of these called for improvements in transport. ”(Stover1)

Transportation is mainly devised through the use of horse-drawn carriages as well as the main form of land transport – which is the train and the railroad. Ports are also comprised of steamboats. This makes transportation in the 19th century to comprise more manual labor for the people, since the trains are powered by steam rather than engine, and boats are powered also by steam. Coal then is a major necessity during this time, in order to make the train and the boats move. Railroads are also an important element in the form of transportation since this is the one, which connects cities to cities, the urban and the rural areas.

Sometimes the consequences of war are greater than the war itself. After several intense and financially exhausting wars, many countries around the world suffered an economic downfall. Britain, France, Germany, the United States, and many other countries all had similar issues and they all followed eachother out of those issues. Poverty struck in almost every country that has engaged in war. War led countries to rely on the scraps of which covered the land.

Our world today depends heavily on means of transportation and that's why it has become a crucial driver of economic development enabling economies be more competitive . Throughout history the economic wealth and military power of people or a nation have been closely tied to efficient methods of transportation.

The Transportation in America Every country has its own culture, which can stand out their differences between each other. I feel exciting and challenging for living in a culture that is different from my own. Since I have been living in the United States for two years, I also experienced some culture shocks. I am going to use the public transportation as an example to illustrate how the American culture changes my daily life.