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Early Land Transportation
In 1800, Americans elected Thomas Jefferson as their third president. Jefferson had a wish. He wanted to discover a waterway that crossed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. He wanted to build a system of trade that connected people throughout the country. At that time the United States did not stretch all the way across the continent. -
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Land Transportation
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The Steam Boats
By the middle of the 1800s, dirt roads had been built in parts of the nation. The use of river steamboats increased. Boats also traveled along man-made canals which strengthened local economies. -
United States celebrated its 100th birthday
In 1876, the United States celebrated its 100th birthday. By now, there were new ways to move people and goods between farms, towns and cities. The flow of business changed. Lives improved. -
Rail Roads
In 19th-century American culture, railroads were more than just a way to travel. Trains also found their way into the works of writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman. -
Nelson Jackson and Sewall Crocker
Soon, however, people began to drive their own cars. Nelson Jackson and his friend, Sewall Crocker, were honored as the first to cross the United States in an automobile. Their trip in 1903 lasted 63 days. And it was difficult. Mainly that was because few good roads for driving existed. -
Electirc Streetcars
By the early 1900s, American cities had grown. So, too, had public transportation. The electric streetcar became a common form of transportation. These trolleys ran on metal tracks built into streets. -
Automobiles
By 1930, more than half the families in America owned an automobile. For many, a car became a need, not simply an expensive toy. To deal with the changes, lawmakers had to pass new traffic laws and rebuild roads. -
Buses
World War Two ended in 1945. Soldiers came home and started families. Businesses started to move out to the edges of cities where suburbs were developing. Most families in these growing communities had cars, bicycles or motorcycles to get around. Buses also became popular -
Federal State highway Act
But for most automobile drivers, long-distance travel remained somewhat difficult. There was no state-to-state highway system. In 1956 Congress passed a law called the Federal-Aid Highway Act. Engineers designed a 65,000 kilometer system of roads. They designed highways to reach every city with a population over 100,000. -
Modern Automobiles
Now vehicles have evolved into the most used type of transportation in the world.
