By the 1840s, steam engines pulled freight at ten miles an hour—more than
four times faster than canal boats traveled. Passengers found such speeds exciting,
although early train travel was far from comfortable, as Samuel Breck, a
Philadelphia merchant, complained.
A PERSONAL VOICE SAMUEL BRECK
“ If one could stop when one wanted, and if one were not locked up in a box with
50 or 60 tobacco-chewers; and the engine and fire did not burn holes in one’s
clothes . . . and the smell of the smoke, of the oil, and of the chimney did not poi-
son one . . . and [one] were not in danger of being blown sky-high or knocked off
the rails—it would be the perfection of travelling.
”
—quoted in American Railroads
Eventually, railroads grew to be both safe and reliable, and the cost of rail
freight gradually came down. By 1850, almost 10,000 miles of track had been laid,
and by 1859, railroads carried 2 billion tons of freight a year.
New Markets Link Regions
By the 1840s, improved transportation and communication made America’s
regions interdependent. Arteries like the National Road, whose construction
began in 1811, had also opened up western travel. By 1818, the road extended
from Cumberland, Maryland, west to Wheeling, Virginia; by 1838, it reached as
far west as Springfield, Illinois.
Growing links between America’s regions contributed to the development of
regional specialties. The South exported its cotton to England as well as to New
England. The West’s grain and livestock fed hungry factory workers in eastern
cities and in Europe. The East manufactured textiles and machinery.
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE
Most of the South remained agricultural and relied
on such crops as cotton, tobacco, and rice. Southerners who had seen the North’s
“filthy, overcrowded, licentious factories” looked with dis-
favor on industrialization. Even if wealthy Southerners
wanted to build factories, they usually lacked the capital to
do so because their money was tied up in land and the
slaves required to plant and harvest the crops.
Though the new transportation and communication
lines were less advanced in the South, these improvements
helped keep Americans from every region in touch with
one another. Furthermore, they changed the economic re-
lationships between the regions, creating new markets and
interdependencies.
NORTHEAST SHIPPING AND MANUFACTURING
Heavy
investment in canals and railroads transformed the
Northeast into the center of American commerce. After the
opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, New York City became
the central link between American agriculture and European
markets. In fact, more cotton was exported through New
York City than through any other American city.
The most striking development of the era, however, was
the rise in manufacturing. Although most Americans still
lived in rural areas and only 14 percent of workers had man-
ufacturing jobs, these workers produced more and better
goods at lower prices than had ever been produced before.
278 C
HAPTER 9
C
BRITAIN’S COTTON IMPORTS
By 1840, the American South,
the world’s leading producer of
cotton, was also the leading sup-
plier of cotton to Great Britain. In
all, Great Britain imported four-
fifths of its cotton from the
South. Cotton directly or indirectly
provided work for one in eight
people in Britain, then the
world’s leading industrial power.
For its part, Britain relied so
heavily on Southern cotton that
some cotton growers incorrectly
assumed that the British would
actively support the South during
the Civil War. “No power on earth
dares make war upon [cotton],” a
South Carolina senator boldly
declared in 1858. “Cotton is
king.”
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Analyzing
Effects
How did
new products,
communications
methods, and
transportation
methods help the
U.S. economy?
D
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
D
Analyzing
Causes
How did the
transportation
revolution bind
U.S. regions to
one another and
to the rest of the
world?
C. Answer New
products led to
growing num-
bers of con-
sumers. New
methods of
communication
and transpor-
tation made the
operation of
business more
efficient and
profitable.
D. Answer
Canals, rail-
roads, and
improved roads
reduced the
price of shipping
and linked the
country’s interior
to international
ports like New
York City.
