BUILDING A NETWORK OF
ROADS, CANALS, AND
RAILROADS (1800-1850)
ROADS
▪ Original roads were animals paths that
Native Americans used for tracking
▪ Later horse and wagons created dirt roads
▪ Physical Obstacle= rain and storms
would wash away the roads
▪ Gravel or Paved Roads
▪ Political Factor= Anti-federalist were
against spending money on building
roads
▪ Economic Factor= Private companies
paid for the first roads called
TURNPIKES (toll roads- users would
pay a fee, or toll, to use the road)
ROADS
▪ Corduroy Roads were roads in marshy areas made of logs laid side by side
▪ Physical Obstacle= very hazardous for the horses because their legs could
get caught between the logs
▪ Wilderness Road= cleared by Daniel Boone, it crossed the Appalachian
Mountains through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky
▪ The National Road= first federally funded road,
Cumberland, MD to Wheeling, VA and later reached
Vandalia, IL
HENRY CLAY’S AMERICAN SYSTEM
▪ Henry Clay = Republican from Kentucky (war-hawk during the War of 1812)
▪ He believed the west needed better roads and canals to transport goods
from one region to another
▪ Political Factor= a policy that proposed high tariffs and a federal program of
public works.
▪ Economic Factor=
▪ high tariffs (tax on imports) would help Northerners buy farm products from
the west and south
▪ Tariffs create revenue for the federal government to use to build up the
countries infrastructure (roads, bridges, and canals)
CANALS
▪ Canal is a channel that is dug across land and filled with water
▪ were the fastest and cheapest way to get goods to isolated western
farmers.
▪ Physical Obstacles= most rivers ran north to south, canal had to be built to
travel east to west
▪ Steamboats
▪ Economic Factor= allowed for faster and easier transportation of raw
materials and manufactured goods.
▪ Physical Obstacle= not suitable for ocean travel, rivers could freeze in the
winter
CANALS
▪ Erie Canal- went from the Hudson River to Lake Erie
▪ Physical Obstacles= challenging for engineers because the land was not
level
▪ Economic Factors= cut costs of freight transportation by 95%, contributed to
the wealth and stature of NYC
RAILROADS
▪ Economic Factors=
connected raw materials,
manufactures and markets
▪ First Railroad went from
Baltimore to Ohio