Transportation In America Essay

Over time, transportation has shown to have an incredible impact on the United States. It has revealed to bring about economic and social changes in various ways. In the late eighteenth century ancient methods of traveling were still in use in America and it was often very slow. Americans were aware that if transportation advancement occurred, it would potentially increase foreign trade, increase land values as well as strengthen the American economy. In the mid 1800s it has been determined that transportation advancement has a drastic effect on our

The automobile has had a profound impact on the United States. It has brought us

Automobiles play a major role in today's society. Almost every American owns at least one motorized transportation vehicle. Some say they make our lives better by reaching places faster than before. Others say they are a harmful to the environment. Have they made our society better or worse? They may be fast, but do we as humans want our environment to suffer because of time. Face it, cars pollute. And they release destructive chemicals into the air. Air pollution can threaten the health of many subjects in the environment including human beings.

The Industrial Revolution created an enormous increase in the production of many kinds of goods. Some of this increase in production resulted from the introduction of power-driven machinery and the development of factory organization. This then led to a large influx of people into the cities. Also, as a result of the demands that the British were making the Americans demanded more in their own country.

Once railroads were built, shipping by them became increasingly popular. Shipping domestically became cheaper and quicker, which elevated the U.S. economy. In Document E, the cost to ship by wagon is recorded to be twenty times the cost by railroad. Furthermore, the article describes wagon shipping “ was $1.77, while by rail it was less than a tenth of that amount.” Before the invention of the Transcontinental Railroad, trade was limited to wagons being driven for days on end. Few people considered the drive, so the price was high to ship. Besides high prices, canals were

Inventions like the iPhone have paved the road for social, economical, and political improvements. It allowed many opportunities for people to capitalize on whether it be economically like amazon, or socially like youtube as did the railroad that connected the states together. The transcontinental railroad most impacted America economically through encouraging imports and exports amongst the states, making transportation cheaper, and opening up cities along the railroad itself.

With the introductions of the Model T, the assembly line and the method of mass production created many new jobs. The Model T 's low price allowed everyone that was making a good salary to buy a car. It helped out society by giving people jobs especially at around this time when there was a lot of immigration in the United States and people needed jobs. "This vast production stimulated many other businesses: The steel, rubber, and glass industries flourished. Construction companies boomed as highways and garages were built. Oil companies, rapidly losing their kerosene business to the spread of electricity, more than made up for it with increased gasoline sales."(Gordon) As a whole it changed the economy at the time but in the long run it changed what society is today. It created mass production which is now our way of production and it changed all of working America with the numerous amounts of jobs it created. "As more Americans owned cars, urbanization patterns changed. The United States saw the growth of suburbia, the creation of a national highway system, and a population entranced with the possibility of going anywhere anytime." (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blford.htm)

New technologies improved agricultural and industrial productivity. Growing cities provided markets and workers for industrial businesses. Products were allowed to reach distant markets because of improved railroad

The Market Revolution made America a capitalist country and less of an agrarian. It was also a driving force for the Industrial Revolution and helped thrust America onto the world stage. No longer were farmers pursuing a subsistence life style, they were now growing food and other crops for sale to buyers domestically

Not only were economics majorly revolutionized during this time period but transportation transformed as well. Before the invention of the steam engine, goods were hauled by horse drawn carriages and the journey was a long and difficult one. Robert Fulton was the first to build a steamboat successfully. This caused for a wave of change and soon goods were hauled across the Atlantic (“Industrial Revolution”) After the rapid success of the steamboat, soon steam locomotives began to take the spotlight. The steamboat and locomotive enabled Americans to travel to different parts of the country in less tie add connected the U.S in a way that it had never been before.

The Industrial Revolution was caused because of the availability of these vast regions of land and this allowed immigrant people to enter the country on mainly the east coast but also the west. As the cities began to fill up and become over populated for what the city was built to handle many more people were either pushed westward or chose to move west out of the unsanitary ways of the cities. The transportation Revolution also began during this time period because of the people’s decision to move west away from strict rules and to less socially bounded societies. As this revolution from handmade work to machine work came over seas with immigrants from Britain to the United States. As more and more people began to settle in the west transportation needed to be available for them to migrate there, that’s why the Iron horse started to become networked. The Iron Horse, the railroad, was created for more seasonally travel in varying weather conditions, cheaper, more efficient, and quicker ways to develop the new unsettled lands in the west therefore connecting the east with the west more readily.

Before railroads, cities were normally built on coasts or rivers, because the most effective way to ship goods was by boat. Traveling on land required horses and wagons, that mean it took extremely long time and had very low capacity. This meant that people could not transport fresh goods nor big loads of foods more than a few miles. Many people settled nearby rivers and coasts, so that they can receive goods they needed, or they could ship anything they produced. By 1828, the nation's first commercial railroad began, 32 years later the railroad network had grown to 30,000 miles long. It offered fast, reliable, had massive capacity, and made inland trade possible. Then cities began to emerge along the railroad lines, and big numbers of people began to move to these new cities for profit and new opportunities west of the Mississippi River. During the same time, the telegraph made it possible for much smoother communication throughout the nation. Using Morse code, a method of transmitting messages could be sent over electric wires, with each letter and number represented by its own pattern of electrical pulses. Initially, the telegraph was a service meant for businesses, and especially newspapers, rather than personals. It help speed the flow of information and brought uniformity to prices throughout the

The development of the railroads was the beginning of a new transport system in America, it connected the east and west, and the communication across the continent grew easier. With the railroads brought new life to deserted towns, people settled along the railways, it was faster for people to travel from one way to the next, it was cheaper, and it led to new industries in lead,coal, and

Soon other lines followed throughout the country. Railroads affected almost every aspect of American life. The rapid spread of the railroads provided the basis for a tremendous westward movement of population. It also carried raw material to, and finish product from factories to consumers in a more efficient way (The USA online, n.d.). The railways became highly profitable business for their owners.

Transportation was improved. New forms of transportation included steam power, improved roads, railroads, bridges, canals and ships. These new improved mean of transportation allowed people to travel cross country and to ship goods to new markets in a matter of days as opposed to months. The railroads eventually became the nation’s number one transportation system, and remained so until the construction of the interstate highway halfway during the Twentieth century. The late 19th century belonged to the railroads. They were of crucial importance in stimulating economic expansion (American History).