Robert Fulton and the Steamboat

Begin with the timeline for the big picture, then the lock and canal map. Use the railroad graph and trade flows to show how new routes tied the sections together.

Chart problems, solutions and effects in the story of Robert Fulton's 1807 Clermont. The directions on the page read: Read the text. Then complete the chart and answer the questions on page 2. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 8th grade Immigration and Industry, and it works the same at home or at school. At home, a student can work through it alone and then go over it with you, which shows quickly what is solid and what needs another look. In class it works as independent practice, homework or a warm-up, and you can print one copy or a full set.

A lock is a chamber with a gate at each end. Workers fill or empty the chamber to raise or lower a boat from one level of the canal to the next, since water cannot flow uphill.

On August 17, 1807, the Clermont left New York City and steamed up the Hudson River. It reached Albany, about 150 miles away, after about 32 hours of travel.

Northern lines tied Western farms to Eastern cities, and in the 1850s companies laid track across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In 1860 only about 9,000 miles lay in the states that later formed the Confederacy.