Transcript Transportation Revolution Answers

Name _______________________
Date ______________ Pd. ______
Transportation Revolution – Ch. 12 sec. 3
Answer questions 1-14.
1. Why do you think that the Transportation
Revolution was inevitable (consider the concept
of the Industrial Revolution in your answer)?
Many new goods were being produced, quickly –
now you need to get them to the customer (across
waterways and across land)
America was growing westward, goods were needed
to build and survive in the new West, the West
provided a new market for companies to sell to, now
there was a need to deliver the goods
Improvements in transportation enabled…
2. GOODS
3. PEOPLE
to travel rapidly and efficiently.
5. What two new modes of
transportation largely
contributed to the
Transportation Revolution?
Railroads (steam powered)
Steamboats
4. INFORMATION
6. Who is Robert Fulton?
American steamboat designer; helped design
the first commercial steamboat – The
Clermont
7. What was the Clermont and its
significance?
First full sized steamboat (1807), traveled up
the Hudson Riv. ; allowed for increased trade
and profits – moved goods quicker
7,500 steamboats in use by 1840 – moved
people, goods, and information across the
Atlantic, up and down the Miss. Riv., etc.
8. Steamboats enhanced travel and
communication throughout the United States.
New cities and towns cropped up along
waterways across the US. How did those
people and goods then travel across land?
Development of railroads
9. What physical obstacles did railroad
construction in the United States face?
Mountains, rivers, sharp curves, steep
inclines
10. In what ways did railroads affect the
economy of the United States?
Allowed goods to reach new and growing
markets
Allowed the U.S. to expand
Allowed regions of the U.S. to develop a
strength in a particular market (N – industry,
S – farming, W – natural resources) –
promoted those regions to trade with each
other, strengthening the U.S. economy
Connected major cities throughout the U.S.
(NE)
Expanded U.S. borders and led to pop.
growth near railroad junctions
11. Steamboats and railroads made getting goods to distant markets much easier and less costly.
People in all areas of the nation now had access to products made and grown far away. More than ever
before, there was a national economy. The wealth, however, was centered in the
NORTHEAST (directional part of the country).
12. Explain what shift occurred with respect to certain natural resources.. (Name the natural
resources and why the shift occurred.)
Increase in the demand for wood to power steamboats and trains
Then a shift from wood to coal to power steamboats and trains; increasing the mining industry
13.How were the railroad and steel industries interrelated?
Steel was used to make factories , machines, equipment and railroads (and trains)
As rail travel expanded – better/stronger rail was needed (steel much stronger than iron)
Steel was used to make new farming equipment - the new equipment was delivered by railroads
14.How were trade and business affected by the Transportation Revolution?
Goods could be sent to new markets to sell
Transportation encouraged Americans to spread out because they could get all the goods they
needed/wanted now (consumers and businesses were happy)