By providing a means for reliable transportation, the railroads made the regular shipping of manufacturing supplies and manufactured goods in mass quantities possible. As a result, the railroads laid the groundwork for the global Industrial Revolution through providing a foundational need in the development of industry.
This source provides information to historians looking to explore how the earliest of American railroad tracks, starting in Charleston, impacted trading and production of goods throughout the entire country. In terms of a global Industrial Revolution, Grant mentions that this is an ideal source for discussing the “later cultural, economic, political, and physical environments,” impacted by this advancement in transportation…