MARKET REVOLUTION - TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION (JUST A FEW ADDITIONAL NOTES)

MARKET REVOLUTION - TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION

(JUST A FEW ADDITIONAL NOTES)

EUGENIA LANGANMATER ACADEMY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOLHIALEAH GARDENS, FLORIDA

THE MARKET REVOLUTION: AFTER THE WAR OF 1812, THE U.S ECONOMY BEGAN LESS RELIANT ON IMPORTS AND CENTERED MORE ON THE INTERNAL MARKET

INDUSTRIALIZATION MADE THIS POSSIBLE (THOUGH NOT ALL REGIONS WERE INDUSTRIALIZED)

EAST – INDUSTRIALIZED

SOUTH – PLANTATIONS (MOSTLY COTTON) AND SLAVERY

WEST – THE NATION’S BREADBASKET

REGIONAL SPECIALIZATION REGIONS DEPENDED ON TRADE WITH EACH OTHER - INTERDEPENDENT

THE MARKET REVOLUTION (AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION) DEPENDED ON THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION:

FREIGHT HAD TO MOVE FROM STATE TO STATE, REGION TO REGION

HENCE THE DEBATES OVER INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS – ROADS AND CANALS

TRANSPORTATION FACT: VERY HEAVY FREIGHT SUCH AS GRAIN, COAL, IRON, ETC. CANNOT MOVE BY ROAD – ONLY BY WATER AND RAILROADS

IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE AND TAKES YEARS TO BUILD A CANAL, AND CANALS MUST LINK TO RIVERS OR LAKES

TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION PHASE 1

MAJOR ROADS (TURNPIKES) AND CANALS BY AROUND 1840: NOTE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH

TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION PHASE 2: THE RAIL “REVOLUTION”

DEPENDED ON INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION – STEAM ENGINE

MUCH CHEAPER TO BUILD RAILROADS THAN CANALS

RAILROADS CAN BE BUILT ANYWHERE

RAIL – SPEED

BEFORE, FASTEST TRANSIT WAS BY HORSE – AV. SPEED 10 MPH (BUT HORSES MUST STOP EN ROUTE TO EAT, REST, SLEEP, ETC.)

19TH C. STEAM LOCOMOTIVE – AV. 10 MPH, DIDN’T HAVE TO STOP EN ROUTE

10 MPH – BUT HAS TOSTOP TO REST, EAT, SLEEP,ETC. TEAM OF HORSES CARRIES ONE WAGON

10 MPH – KEEPS GOING AS LONG AS COAL IS IN FIREBOX AND WATER IS IN BOILER. ONE LOCOMOTIVE HAULS MANY CARS

SORRY, NO CHART FOR U.S. – BUT REDUCTIONS IN TRANSIT TIME IN U.S. WERE THE SAME AS IN ENGLAND: REDUCED TIME BY 70-75%

THE JOHN BULL, ONE OF THE EARLIEST STEAM ENGINES IN U.S.

IN ADDITION TO BEING MUCH FASTER THAN EITHER HORSES OR BARGES, RAILROADS COULD MOVE MORE FREIGHT AT A TIME – STEAM ENGINES COULD HAUL DOZENS OF CARS

THE RAIL BOOM – 1830 – 60 (MILES OF TRACK)

1830 1840 1850 1860

40 2,755 8,571 28.920

BY 1840 RAILROADS HAD REPLACED CANALS AS THE PRIMARY LONG-DISTANCE FREIGHT CARRIERS

RAILROADS BY 1860

N.B.: SOUTH HAD FEWER RAILROADS

SOUTHERN RAILROADS MOSTLY SHORT LINES

SOUTHERN RAILROADS NOT STANDARD GAUGE

RR = BEST WAY TO MOVE TROOPS, MATERIEL, OTHER WAR SUPPLIES