Prior to Industrial Revolution, no kind of mechanical transportation existed. Individuals entirely relied on animal labor for land transport and wind for sea transport. The development of cities in kilometers in the region remained the same for long periods because individuals could only manage to walk for short distances. However, automated transport systems like railroads, canals, and steamboats emerged with the industrial revolution. These newly emerged transportation systems made it easy to transport individuals and luggage in more significant amounts for long distances.
The industrial revolution led to urbanization that resulted in rapid population increase along the Atlantic coast. Individuals began moving to the west. When they settled in the west, they found the land there to be fertile, enabling them to produce more than they required to provide for their families. In order to transport products back to the eastern region and other markets, people developed a need for a less expensive and more efficient method. They made a significant change by improving road transport. In 1806, congress passed a bill signed and authorized by Jefferson to fund the construction of Cumberland Road, later known as the National Road (Norton et al., 2014, p.222). This road connected rivers Potomac and Ohio and became a route that more than a thousand settlers used to move from Maryland to Illinois. Also, the route was used by immigrants who entered the west.
Between 1817 and 1825, the Erie Canal was constructed under New York’s authorization (Norton et al., 2014, p.222). This canal linked the Great Lakes and the Atlantic seaboard. By opening this route to the Atlantic, this canal hastened the growth of lakes. As a result, product transportation became faster and more easily accessible. This facilitated commerce and travel, both locally and nationally. This led to increased productivity, and this, in turn, encouraged population growth. Additionally, the transport cost was significantly reduced by about 95 percent, thus changing individual welfare and securing New York’s position as the nation’s chief port (Norton et al., 2014, p.268). The success of this canal contributed to the construction of several other canals, accelerating the economic growth of landlocked regions that previously could not be reached.
Although steamboats and canals increased the people’s potential to settle in the west, rivers and canals froze when winter came. Thus, railroads appeared to be a more viable option(Norton et al., 2014, p.268). Railroads’ initial capital investment was little, and they provided more direct routes. It linked the eastern and the western regions making the western states part of the U.S. Initially; railroads were only used to transport humans. However, as the demand for products in the marketplaces increased, they were used for luggage transport. Specifically, they were significant in transporting farm produce and manufactured items as they could link remote regions to national and international markets. This helped reduce the cost and time required to ship goods from one place to another.
Conclusion
With the increased growth of the free market and improved U.S economy, the northeast region rapidly became urbanized, resulting in high population growth. Due to this increased population, individuals began moving to the western regions filled with more fertile soils. While in the west, the people started farming and produced sufficient products for domestic and commercial use. This resulted in the increased need to make transportation cheaper, easily accessible, and effective to move their products to the eastern areas and other marketplaces. During this period, there was the development of various ways of moving across the U.S, a growth referred to as Transportation Revolution.
References
Norton, M. B., Kamensky, J., Sheriff, C., Blight, D. W., & Chudacoff, H. (2014). A people and a nation: A history of the United States. Cengage Learning.
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