National Road, USA
Created | Updated Apr 15, 2005
The National road was the first major federal response to the demand for westward travel. It connected the end of the Baltimore Turnpike (in Cumberland) to the town of Wheeling, West Virginia. in Wheeling, travelers could board riverboats on the Ohio River to head west.
Planning for the road began in 1806, and contracts were granted in 1811. The war of 1812 delayed construction and work was not started until 1815. Three years later, in
1818, the road reached Wheeling.
Westerners wanted the road to be extended more westward, but easterners had no interest of westward travelling, and the southerners were more concerned, at the time, with state level government and not federal.
In 1824, Kentuckian Henry Clay proposed the American System. The American System was a combination of protective tarrifs and internal improvements intended to strengthen the domestc network of industry and trade. Due to Clay's efforts, the National Road was extended westward to Columbus, Ohio in 1833.
The road continued to move westward and reached Vandalia, Illinois in 1850. Before the road could reach St. Loius (its intended destination) railroad construction became the new national priority. The road lost importance through the years until automobile travel became popular, and it was brought it back as part of U.S. Route 40.
