Fasttrack to America's Past
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Page 100


Page 101
 Pages 100 & 101 - Charting the Transportation Revolution


Making the chart, page 100

   Students can use a regular #2 pencil to complete this chart.  It's a good idea to make sure students know what each picture in the chart represents.  Remind students to add the symbol for cents.  You might mention to students that the typical pay for a man's labor for a day ranged from 50 cents to about a dollar at that time.

What the chart shows, page 100

   This chart shows the incredible drop in the cost of transportation during the Growing Years.  The Transportation Revolution made settlement of the western areas economically attractive, because goods could be shipped long distances and still bring a profit.

Making the chart, page 101

   Students will need just one color pencil for this bar graph.  Green is a good choice.  Notice that the table shows more information than is needed to complete the chart.  The first bar is for the year 1840.

What the chart shows, page 101  

   This chart shows the rapid spread of railroad lines in the U.S. during the decades from 1840 to 1860.  Students should understand that this remarkable growth was driven mainly by people seeking profits in the transportation business.  It required enormous investment of money.  Railroads were the first really big businesses in the U.S., and remained as one of the dominant forces in the American economy right up to World War Two.


Background for the chart question, page 100

   The chart shows a very large drop in the cost of transportation during the Growing Years.  Farms could ship their harvests to market and still make a profit.  Farms could be located where land was cheap, and produce larger quantities for sale in distant cities.  They could concentrate on one or two profitable cash crops, instead of trying to grow or produce everything the farm family would need.
   Low transportation costs also helped businesses.  They could sell and ship their products over a much wider area.  This allowed them to expand their output, which also tends to lower costs and prices.

Background for the chart question, page 101

   Railroads became even more important than canals in the growth of the U.S. for several reasons.  They move products faster, and can go wherever tracks can be laid. 
   More important in the long run, however, is that railroads tended to promote the development of new technology and industry. 
   For all their advantages, canals use the same basic technology that was known in the ancient world.  Railroads, however, involved a much more widespread knowledge of machines and metal working.  People with that knowledge could apply it to new inventions and businesses.
   Railroad companies also required sophisticated banking support.  This, too, grew along with the railroads and also tended to promote business growth generally. 
   The railroads, therefore, had a "spin-off" effect on American society that was perhaps as important as the railroad lines themselves.






Copyright Notice

   Copyright 2018 by David Burns.  All rights reserved.  Illustrations and reading selections appearing in this work are taken from sources in the public domain and from private collections used by permission.  Sources include: the Dover Pictorial Archive, the Library of Congress, The National Archives, The Hart Publishing Co., Corel Corporation and its licensors, Nova Development Corporation and its licensors, and others.  Maps were created or adapted by the author using reference maps from the United States Geological Survey and Cartesia Software.  Please see the home page for this title for more information.