GEOGRAPHICAL AND TECHNICAL FACTORS THAT ADVANCED A NEW COUNTRY;

The Formative Years between the War of 1812 and the Civil War composed a period wherein a new industrial order and technological innovations changed the basic structure of American life. First canals and then rail travel facilitated commerce and transportation. There was, as Page Smith said, “A dizzying proliferation of inventions and improvements.”

When steam power was developed, it was one of the greatest technical accomplishments of the century. Before James Watts designed his steam engine, people relied on nature for locomotion. (Wind, water or animals) In the Turnpike and Canal Era, things moved along slowly, but the emergence of steam power propelled transportation and technology forward. The improved ability to transport goods and passengers facilitated economic growth.

The heyday of the Canal era ended not long after Peter Cooper tested his steam engine, the “Tom Thumb”, in 1830. A new age of transportation began. Railroads, and later the telegraph, would create stronger connections between distant areas of the large and growing country. Railroads also inspired the imaginations of poets and storytellers, as well as attracting a new breed of artist—the Photographer. The image of the metal beast rolling past those green, picturesque landscapes must have been irresistible to the visual artist. Railroads soon became the young nation’s principal form of transportation, remaining so until the middle of the next century.

Overcoming the technological problems of railway travel led to increased ingenuity on the part of engineers, who had to meet the needs of the growing industry. Technology and investments in transportation dramatically reduced travel time and shipping. By the mid 19^th century, railroads brought the cost of land transportation down by 95% and reduced travel time by one-fifth.

Aside from the area of transportation, other innovations occurred during this period, especially in the field of agriculture. New mechanized farming implements helped in the agrarian field at a time when the US Midwest was becoming one of the leading agricultural regions of the world. Not since Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin had new technologies been so important to this field. Meanwhile, in the urban industrial areas, the factory was born.

After the War of 1812, the US grew dramatically in size and population (By one third in each decade through 1940.) The population reached 10 million by 1845. People began to spread outward, to the west, past the Appalachians. Mostly young and hard working, they had grand dreams of achieving economic success with a thriving farm on a patch of land all their own. Ever since Colonial days, Americans had always lusted for more land. With the population growing and the Indian culture becoming ever weaker, the west and south seemed like tantalizing destinations to seek new commercial successes. By the 1840’s expansionism reached a fever pitch.

Intense national pride spurred on the quest for new lands to claim. Americans were convinced that theirs was the greatest country in the world, with a grand global destiny. Expansionism promised to increase the rewards of wealth, glory and property. The continent was large and blessed with an abundance of habitable land. There was plenty of water and good fields for farming. Animals and plants were readily available for domestication to agrarian life. The climate throughout most of the country was generally clement. Even the oceans served their purpose as a buffer against hostile European nations. It seemed “the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” The vast continent seemed to be calling to the brave and ambitious, beckoning them to come and claim a share of their destined demi-paradise.