Describe the transportation revolution in the United States in the early nineteenth century. What ...

Students should point out that as a market economy developed, both the state and federal governments were forced to build roads and canals to integrate the regions of the growing nation. Examples that are readily available are the federal government's building of the Cumberland Road and New York state's construction of the Erie Canal, which connected the Hudson River with Lake Erie and beyond. Other canals followed, and their construction was facilitated by the introduction of steamboats, reducing costs of transport and thereby enhancing the flow of goods and services greatly.