USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Steamboats increased trade and profits because goods could be moved quickly and thus more cheaply. More than 500 steamboats were in use in the United States by 1840. By the 1850s, steamboats were also being used to carry people and goods across the Atlantic Ocean.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1807, Robert Fulton’s steamboat, the Clermont, became the first commercial steamboat transporting goods and people up and down the Mississippi River.

Detailed explanation-3: -At the beginning of the century, U.S. citizens and immigrants to the country traveled primarily by horseback or on the rivers. After a while, crude roads were built and then canals. Before long the railroads crisscrossed the country moving people and goods with greater efficiency.

Detailed explanation-4: -The successive developments of the steamboat, the canal system, and the steam-powered locomotive alleviated the cost and time of the journey, produced growth in manufacturing, encouraged western settlement, and led to increased foreign trade.

Detailed explanation-5: -America’s economic transformation in the early 1800s was linked to dramatic changes in transportation networks. Construction of roads, canals, and railroads led to the expansion of markets, facilitated the movement of peoples, and altered the physical landscape.