What Was The Impact Of Transportation In America

Transportation Revolution The transportation revolution is believed to have begun in 1807 when the government seemed it was going to become active in growing infrastructure. The treasury secretary, at the time, Albert Gallatin was asked to develop “a plan for the application of such means as are within the power of Congress, to the purpose of opening roads and making canals” (W&R). This plan was not to happen and throughout this revolution the government was only responsible for a few projects. Without much government aid, entrepreneurs took matters into their own hands, creating competition.

Throughout history, people have been inventing things to make their lives easier. That drive has produced huge changes in the American life several times over. In the 1700’s, life in America was very difficult. Transportation infrastructure was lacking, which pushed the delivery of goods to be almost exclusively down rivers. Military technology was roughly unchanged since America began, leaving the country open to attack from other nations.

In 1793, Eli Whitney’s cotton gin removed seeds from cotton fibers. Because of the cotton gin, Southerners increased highly profitable cotton production, depended heavily on slavery, and joined an expanding clothing market with New England and Britain. Eli Whitney demonstrated interchangeable musket parts to Congress in 1801. Nearly identical musket parts could easily be produced and replaced. During the Civil War, soldiers could simply and inexpensively repair damaged Springfield rifles.

In the United States as of 2015, there were 263,610,219 registered motor vehicles on the road. This is a drastic change compared to the number of cars just a century ago. The idea of the automobile dates back to the late seventeenth century when a small steam powered vehicle was invented for the Chinese Emperor. The actual practical automobile, however, dates back to the late nineteenth century in Germany with Karl Benz’s Motorwagen. Widespread use of the automobile in the United States began in 1908 when Henry Ford began mass producing his Model T.

The Industrial Revolution was a key component to why transportation changed throughout the years in Britain. Prior to the Industrial Revolution it was hard to go from place to place and took a great amount of time to get there. The transportation was very basic before the Industrial Revolution and consisted of: wagons pulled by horses and flatboats. Due to the revolution, steam powered locomotives were made, canals were created and roads were made. First ranked was the steam powered locomotive, canals second and roads third.

The major decline in railroad transportation during the 1950’s was primarily due to the vast construction of interstate highway by the government. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 authorized the vast construction of 41,000 miles of roadway with a steep price of 25 billion dollars that would come from taxpayer money. With the increase in air and road travel, the need to travel by rail, in a less direct route, seemed unnecessary. This would ultimately leave railroad companies to believe traveling by rail was in a permanent decline. On February 18, 1947, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) formally announced that they were operating at a loss.

In conclusion, the effects that the transcontinental railroad has on the United Stated were profound. The transcontinental has open up a lot of opportunities for this country. In fact the construction still remains open and anybody can site see this amazing historical event. Being able to have a transportation that can transport people and goods to each coast of the country has become best opportunity for people to explore the United States.

The mass transit significantly impacted the lives of Americans. The mass transit was a transportation system designed to move large numbers of people along fixed routes. Street cars were introduced in San Francisco in 1873 and electric subways in Boston in 1897. By the early 20th century, mass transit networks in many urban areas linked city neighborhoods to one another and to outlying communities. The mass transit was in the United States.

Throughout time transportation, communication, industry and animal agriculture, woman’s role in society, utopian communities, white manhood suffrage, women 's rights and various compromises were revolutionized. These revolutions majorly took place during the 19th century and affected the country for the better. Inventions such as the cotton gin, telephone and typewriter and people such as Andrew Jackson, Dorothea Dix, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Stanton and many others lived through the 1800’s and greatly influenced the way we live today. In the 19th century the transportation revolution made rapid traveling possible and made technological advantages that resulted in an improved life for many American citizens.

The Transportation in America Every country has its own culture, which can stand out their differences between each other. I feel exciting and challenging for living in a culture that is different from my own. Since I have been living in the United States for two years, I also experienced some culture shocks. I am going to use the public transportation as an example to illustrate how the American culture changes my daily life.