Transportation/Innovation During the 1800's

 The new form of transportation I feel most benefited American citizens during the 1800s was the new invention of railroads and the railroad system. This system not only helped Americans travel faster from place to place, but was also a way to quickly transport goods. According to History.com, “by 1880, the transcontinental railroad was transporting $50 million worth of freight each year.” Trading and transportation of goods not only allows for more items and goods to be spread country-wide, but also helps spread different ways of creating goods, and spreading cultures in some ways. Different people and tribes from different places around the world are used to things being created in certain ways than others, and the diversity of the world helps spread different ideas to different places. Also, obviously, with the opportunity to spread goods to different places around the country, foreign items can be more accessible to others. All of these reasons helped America’s economic growth, and helped find similarities between different places of the country. Aside from helping large groups of people, and America as a whole, the railroad system also benefited singular groups of people, specifically by opening many new job opportunities. During this time period, a good chunk of Americans were unemployed, and running the rail system took the effort of many workers, no matter the skill level. Along with helping transport people, these are the main benefits which came with the American railroad system. Though there are questionable doubts about whether this helped or did not, it is clear this made more of positive impact on America. One of the main reasons for this was because of how large and vastly it spread, covering nearly all of America, and reaching many towns. All in all, the railroad system of the 1800s was a new transportation system which was the most beneficial.