The National Road refers to a highway constructed with the authorization of the U. S. government in the early 19th century that eventually connected the eastern seaboard with the Ohio River Valley and points west. Also known as the Cumberland Road and the National Pike, it began as a proposal in Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin’s plan for the federal government to support INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS in 1808. Gallatin’s plan was comprehensive but controversial, as no clear consensus existed in the government for the federal government to finance public roads. Consequently, state governments paid for the road’s construction. Much of the financing came from the state of Ohio, whose 1803 state charter included a stipulation that the federal government and the state would share in the cost of road construction. Five percent of all proceeds from public land sales in Ohio were set aside from the construction of roads. Of this amount, Congress spent two-fifths, while three-fifths was spent by the Ohio legislature.
Construction began in 1811 in Cumberland, Maryland, along an old military road used in the French and Indian War (1754-63). The road connected to the privately built Baltimore Pike, providing a link to coastal roads. By 1818, the National Road cut through western Pennsylvania to Wheeling, Virginia. By 1833, it had reached Vandalia, Illinois. The road spurred western expansion and commerce, improving the ability of pioneers to cut through the Appalachian Mountains to the fertile river valleys and plains to the west. Towns such as Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), boomed with new taverns, blacksmiths, stables, and other businesses to aid travelers.
By 1820 the road had become an important link between the steamboat trade of the Ohio River Valley and the East Coast. It also had significant political implications because of concerns that the federal government did not have constitutional authority to finance its construction. Previously, Thomas Jefferson’s initial response to Gallatin’s original proposal had been to suggest that it needed a constitutional amendment. Momentum for all internal improvements increased between 1808 and 1825 as a consequence of the Embargo of 1807 and War Of 1812 (181215). Federal support for internal improvements (including road building) became a pillar of the American System for economic development pushed from 1816 to 1825 by national political leaders such as Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. Yet James Madison was a steadfast opponent of federally funded roads and canals on constitutional grounds, and James Monroe also had reservations about the constitutionality of such projects. The issue became prominent in 1817, when Madison vetoed the Bonus Bill, which would have provided federal funds for an array of new roads and canals around the country. In 1822, Monroe expressed his own principles when he vetoed a bill to provide national funding for road repairs. However, in his veto message Monroe also indicated that he would accept federal support for roads as long as the plans met with approval from the states that the roads cut across. Thus, in 1824 he signed the General Survey Act authorizing extensive federal plans for road and canal projects across the nation. Under the General Survey Act, Congress approved plans to extend the National Road across Illinois and the Mississippi River to central Missouri.
The establishment of the National Road saw thousands of travelers heading west over the Allegheny Mountains to settle the rich lands of the Ohio River Valley. Small towns along the road’s path began to grow and prosper with the increase in population. Towns such as Cumberland, Maryland; Uniontown, Pennsylvania; Brownsville, Pennsylvania; Washington, Pennsylvania; and Wheeling, West Virginia evolved into commercial centers of business and industry. Uniontown was the headquarters for three major stagecoach lines carrying passengers over the National Road. Brownsville, on the Monongahela River, was a center for steamboat building and river-freight hauling. Many small towns and villages along the road contained taverns,
Blacksmith shops, and livery stables. During the heyday of the National Road, traffic was heavy throughout the day and into the early evening. Almost every kind of vehicle could be seen on the road. The two most common vehicles were the stagecoach and the Conestoga wagon. Stagecoach travel was designed with speed in mind; stages would average 60-70 miles in one day.
By the early 1850s, technology was changing the way people traveled. The steam locomotive was being perfected, and soon railroads began to cross the Allegheny Mountains. The people of southwestern Pennsylvania fought strongly to keep the railroad out of the area, knowing the impact it would have on the National Road. In 1852, the Pennsylvania Railroad was completed to Pittsburgh and shortly after, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad reached Wheeling. This spelled doom for the National Road. As the traffic quickly declined, many taverns went out of business. The National Road became part of U. S. 40 highway in 1926.
Further reading: Charles Sellers, The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-1846 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991); George Rogers Taylor, The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860 (Armonk, N. Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1989).
—James R. Karmel
World History
