Transportation Revolution

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Steam Engine

an engine that uses the expansion or rapid condensation of steam to generate power.

Steam Power

Allowed factories to move away from water power

James Watts

Innovator making the steam engine useful in 1765

Tom Thumb

the first American built steam locomotive

Peter Cooper

American ironworks manufacturer who designed and built Tom Thumb, the first American locomotive in 1830

Clermont

the first full-sized commercial steamboat

Robert Fulton

American that innovated the first commercially successful steamboat in 1807

locomotive

engine that pulls a railroad train

Steam Tractor

a steam powered vehicle designed to pull farm equipment and haul heavy loads

Canal

long and narrow man-made strip of water made for boats or for irrigation

Erie Canal

an artificial waterway dug in 1825 connecting the Hudson river at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo

Railroads and Canals

Helped the growth of an industrial economy and supported the westward movement of settlers

Railroads

Train routes essential to westward expansion because they made it easier to travel to and supply settlements in the west.

Steamboat

A boat that moves by the power of a steam engine, made it easier and quicker to travel goods

Cumberland Road

the first federal road project, construction of which began in 1815; ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to present-day Wheeling, West Virginia