Industrial Revolution Dbq

The nineteenth century market revolution was a complete change in American Industry. Before, America was based on local commerce and small scale farming. The industrial revolution changed all of that. For the first time America was connected. Industry flourished and the economy spurred. It was an expansion of the market place. One of the main reasons for it was the completion of new roads and routes of trade. These roads connected America. They allowed for trade among towns and cities that had never come into contact before. This was so successful because the government funded tons of money into transportation. They saw how successfully Lake Eerie was and got inspired to connect all of America. This spurred the industrial Revolution in 1825. …show more content…
Canals helped transport people very fast coast to coast in a journey that used to take eight months. It was more cost effective to transport large goods over water than by road. Engineers took advantage of this by making navigation easier. Steamboat companies took advantage of the cargo and people moving and grew in size. Smart businessmen started to concentrate on water transportation. In 1806 Robert Fulton came out with the first commercial steamboat. Since the steamboat was very efficient, the market took off and by 1830 there were tons, over 200 steamboats in the Mississippi alone. As early as the 1820s, the successes of the steamboat were clear. Steamboats played a vital role in opening the west and south to further settlement. They stimulated the agricultural economy of the west by providing better access to markets at a lower cost. Farmers quickly bought land near navigable rivers, because they could now easily ship their produce out. Villages at strategic points along the waterways evolved into centers of commerce and urban life. In the 1830s and 1840s, the port of New Orleans grew to lead all others in exports.
Governor DeWitt Clinton had a plan to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie. His plan became a reality in 1825 when the project was completed. The Erie Canal, the canal that connected Lake Erie and the Hudson River, had tremendous impact on the U.S. First of all, it made shipping goods way less expensive. …show more content…
Henry Clay was the leading force in congressional politics in the 1820s to 1830s. He wanted to help strengthen economy. Clay had three means of his success: taxation on British goods, internal infrastructure improvements, and distribution of western land. The first part of Clay's system was a tariff on all European imports. The idea behind this was that Europe had a much better industry at the time than did America. America was just getting on its feet in regards of manufacturing. Europe however had powerful monopolies of goods. This meant that they could sell items for less than American goods. A result was that the American economy suffered because European goods were taking over the market. For example, after the war of 1812, in 1815 America totaled 151 million dollars in European imports. Clay needed to tax European imports, therefore making them more expensive. This way Americans would buy the cheaper goods: American goods. Selling American goods rather than European would boost the economy. Clay's second plan of action was internal improvements. He wanted to federally take control of the construction of roads, canals, and railways. Some people disagreed and beloved states should have the power to do that. Clay strongly encouraged it to be a federal ordeal, that way the infrastructure would all be federally coordinated and organized. Clay believed in a loose

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DBQ: The Industrial Revolution