Transportation and communication, 1800–1898

Your answers are saved in this browser as you type.

Between 1800 and 1898, roads, canals, steamboats, railroads and the telegraph tied distant regions of the United States together and changed how Americans worked and lived. Evaluate the extent to which changes in transportation and communication transformed the economy and society of the United States from 1800 to 1898. Your response may focus on any change(s) in transportation or communication during this period. You are not expected to address the entire period. In your response you should do the following: • Make a historically defensible claim (thesis) that answers the prompt and sets out a line of reasoning. • Describe a broader historical context relevant to the prompt. • Support your argument with at least two pieces of specific, relevant evidence. • Use historical reasoning (comparison, causation, or continuity and change) to frame or structure your argument. • Show a complex understanding of the topic through sophisticated argument and/or effective use of evidence.

0 / 12,000 characters

Scoring it yourself shows you the rubric, examples and a model answer. Try writing your answer first.