CargoAdmin, Bureaucrats, Moderators (CommentStreams), fileuploaders, Interface administrators, newuser, Push subscription managers, Suppressors, Administrators
2,589
edits
General Survey Act: Difference between revisions
m
Text replacement - "Chicago" to "Chicago"
m (1 revision imported) |
m (Text replacement - "Chicago" to "Chicago") |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
The '''General Survey Act''' was a law passed by the United States Congress in April 1824, which authorized the president to have surveys made of routes for transport roads and canals "of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail." While such infrastructure of national scope had been discussed and shown wanting for years, its passage shortly followed the landmark [[US Supreme Court]] ruling, ''[[Gibbons v. Ogden]]'', which first established federal authority over interstate commerce, including navigation by river. The US president assigned responsibility for the surveys to the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] (USACE).<ref name="CoE-Trans">[http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Documents/Brief/03-transportation/transport.html Improving Transportation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328040856/http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Documents/Brief/03-transportation/transport.html |date=2010-03-28 }}, [[USACE]]</ref> | The '''General Survey Act''' was a law passed by the United States Congress in April 1824, which authorized the president to have surveys made of routes for transport roads and canals "of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail." While such infrastructure of national scope had been discussed and shown wanting for years, its passage shortly followed the landmark [[US Supreme Court]] ruling, ''[[Gibbons v. Ogden]]'', which first established federal authority over interstate commerce, including navigation by river. The US president assigned responsibility for the surveys to the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] (USACE).<ref name="CoE-Trans">[http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Documents/Brief/03-transportation/transport.html Improving Transportation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328040856/http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Documents/Brief/03-transportation/transport.html |date=2010-03-28 }}, [[USACE]]</ref> | ||
Of the federally appropriated funds for surveys roads and canals of national importance, President [[James Monroe]] allocated one third of the sum to surveying a military highway connecting [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], with [[Fort Dearborn]] in | Of the federally appropriated funds for surveys roads and canals of national importance, President [[James Monroe]] allocated one third of the sum to surveying a military highway connecting [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], with [[Fort Dearborn]] in Chicago, [[Illinois]]. Commerce and the mail soon traveled much faster on what was called the [[U.S. Route 12 in Michigan|Chicago Road]].<ref>Footpathes to Freeway, The Evolution of Michigan Roadmaps, Kathleen Weessies, Michigan State University Library, May 17, 2007</ref> | ||
In a separate piece of legislation passed a month later that is often called the first [[Rivers and Harbors Act]], Congress also appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] and [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] rivers by removing sandbars, snags, and other obstacles.<ref name="CoE-Trans"/><ref>{{cite web |title=H. Rept. 18-75 - Report of the Committee on Roads and Canals, upon the subject of the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, accompanied with a bill to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. February 28, 1824. Read, and, with the bill, committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Monday next |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-00105_00_00-076-0075-0000 |website=GovInfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> This work also was given to the Corps of Engineers, the only formally trained body of engineers in the new republic.<ref>During the first half of the 19th century, [[West Point]] was the major (and for a while, the only) engineering school in the country. Although part of the nation's small army, the Corps of Engineers was made available to serve the wishes of [[US Congress|Congress]] and the [[executive branch]] for civil as well as military work since they were determined to be interdependent.</ref><ref name="EncW"/> | In a separate piece of legislation passed a month later that is often called the first [[Rivers and Harbors Act]], Congress also appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] and [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] rivers by removing sandbars, snags, and other obstacles.<ref name="CoE-Trans"/><ref>{{cite web |title=H. Rept. 18-75 - Report of the Committee on Roads and Canals, upon the subject of the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, accompanied with a bill to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. February 28, 1824. Read, and, with the bill, committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Monday next |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-00105_00_00-076-0075-0000 |website=GovInfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> This work also was given to the Corps of Engineers, the only formally trained body of engineers in the new republic.<ref>During the first half of the 19th century, [[West Point]] was the major (and for a while, the only) engineering school in the country. Although part of the nation's small army, the Corps of Engineers was made available to serve the wishes of [[US Congress|Congress]] and the [[executive branch]] for civil as well as military work since they were determined to be interdependent.</ref><ref name="EncW"/> | ||