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Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canals, harbors and navigation improvements. [1]
In addition to foreign policy and military matters, Monroe addressed domestic concerns, including the ongoing need for internal improvements such as roads and canals. He reaffirmed his belief that Congress did not have constitutional authority to undertake such projects without an amendment, though he expressed support for maintaining existing ...
The Enabling Act of 1802 would be the first appropriation by Congress for internal improvements [1] in the country's interior. Ohio was the first state to be created out of the Northwest Territory, which had been established by the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1787 in an act of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation .
In an unprecedented step, the president used the occasion to present a report titled "Views of the President of the United States on the Subject of Internal Improvements." In the critical document, Monroe made clear that the Constitution did not empower Congress to establish any system of internal improvements, but he stated, "To the ...
Among the most important internal improvements created under the American System was the Cumberland Road: Henry Clay's "American System," devised in the burst of nationalism that followed the War of 1812 , remains one of the most historically significant examples of a government-sponsored program to harmonize and balance the nation's ...
In his Seventh Annual Message to the Fourteenth Congress on December 5, 1815, President James Madison suggested legislation to create 1) a national bank with regulatory powers 2) a program of federally funded internal improvements for roads and canals, and 3) a protective tariff to shelter emerging American manufacturing from the advanced ...
William H. Crawford felt the constitutional scruples being voiced in the South, and followed the old expedient of advocating for a constitutional amendment to sanction national internal improvements. [16] Shortly thereafter, Congress passed two important laws that would set a new course concerning federal involvement in internal improvements.
Proponents of internal improvements, such as the development of roads and bridges, argued that the federal government had an obligation to harmonize the nation's diverse, and often conflicting, sectional interests into an "American System." Jackson's decision was heavily influenced by his Secretary of State Martin Van Buren. Some authors have ...