US History › Section E · Industry and Jacksonian democracy › Topic E.2
A market economy and the transportation revolution
In 1800 most American farmers sold only a small surplus close to home. By 1850 wheat from Ohio fed New York, and cloth from Massachusetts reached Illinois. New roads, canals, steamboats and railroads, cheap western land and easy credit built a national market, with booms, busts and winners and losers.
In this topic
- From local trade to a national market
- Selling the public lands
- Boom, banks and the Panic of 1819
- Worked example: the chain of causes in 1819
- Relief and recovery
- Machines for the farm and the wire
- Roads and turnpikes
- Canal mania and the Erie Canal
- Steamboats and railroads
- Worked example: one farm and one canal
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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