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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They looked cooler.
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They held more people and were faster.
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They were slow and easy.
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They did not break down as much as horses.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Compared to other types of craft used at the time, such as flatboats, keelboats, and barges, steamboats greatly reduced both the time and expense of shipping goods to distant markets. For this reason, they were enormously important in the growth and consolidation of the U.S. economy before the Civil War.
Detailed explanation-2: -Robert Fulton was hired to develop a steamboat with a powerful engine that could carry cargo and passengers up the Hudson River. In 1807, Fulton designed a new steamboat called the Clermont.
Detailed explanation-3: -In Tennessee, with its many rivers, steamboats made it faster and easier to get around. They worked better than flatboats, which were more common. Steamboats could travel quickly, at up to five miles per hour, and could go against the flow of the river. Farmers quickly sent goods like cotton and corn to other places.
Detailed explanation-4: -The steam engine used the power of boiling water. That invention made it possible for boats to go much faster. Before long, steam engines were used in railroads, too. These trains could go even faster than steamboats.