LIFE IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA 1807 1861
THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION TURNPIKES TO STEAMBOATS TO RAILROADS
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Private firms cut canals at key points and connected rivers.
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Road development made canals obsolete and rarely used.
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Americans showed little interest in the development of canals, regarding them as an Old World mode of transportation.
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The British Parliament passed laws directing that rivers be dug deeper and made wider.
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Thanks to a web of waterways, boats could reach towns they had never been able to reach before.
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Detailed explanation-1: -In America, canal building began in the 1790s to connect the 16 States to the lands west for commerce, as well as for taking passengers and families wanting to relocate further west. Unknown to the colonists were the Hohokam’s canals in a land they never dreamed of visiting. The 363-mile Erie Canal was built in 1825.
Detailed explanation-2: -In 1824 a long ship canal was built to bypass silting that obstructed navigation on the IJsselmeer (Zuiderzee) and to enter the North Sea in the Texel Roads. Later an even shorter ship canal was built to IJmuiden. In Scandinavia new canals were built to facilitate transport of timber and mineral products.
Detailed explanation-3: -Canals were needed for the Industrial Revolution which was creating huge amounts of heavy produce which had to be moved. Roads simply could not handle such weights and the vehicles needed to move this produce did not exist. Canals were the answer to moving heavy objects large distances.
Detailed explanation-4: -Historically, canals were constructed to “extend the sea, ” thereby connecting the sea with cities, and cities with the countryside.