The law
specified that surveys were to be made for routes requiring roads and
canals "of national importance, in a commercial or military point of
view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail." The
responsibility for the surveys was assigned to the Corps
of Engineers.
General Survey Act of 1824 for kids: The
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers played an
important role in the implementation of the General Survey Act of
1824. The United States Army Corps of Engineers was well established
by 1824 and could trace its history to back to 1775, when Congress
established the Continental Army. The United States Army Corps
of Engineers was established when a Chief Engineer was required to
oversee the construction of fortifications at the Battle of Bunker
Hill which was fought on June 17, 1775. The Corps of Engineers
became division of the federal government in 1802. The General
Survey Act of 1824 provided the initial definition of the Corps of
Engineers Civil Works Mission.
General Survey Act of 1824 for kids: Role of
the Corps of Engineers
The role of the Corps of Engineers was to survey and
to chart transportation improvements deemed vital to the nation's
commercial growth and military protection. The General Survey Act of 1824
specified that surveys were to be made
by the Corps of Engineers for routes requiring roads and
canals:
"of national importance, in a commercial or military point of
view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail."
The Civil Works Mission of the Corps of Engineers was defined
further in the 1824 Navigation Act that
appropriated $75000 to improve
navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the 1826 Rivers
and Harbors Act that authorized further surveys and construction
projects.
General Survey Act of 1824 for kids: Joseph
Hemphill
The General Survey Act of 1824 was initiated by Joseph
Hemphill of Pennsylvania who called for the employment of US Army
Officers to conduct estimates and surveys of canals and roads.
General Survey Act of 1824: The
'American System', the construction of Roads and Canals
The supporters of the General Survey Act of 1824 were also
advocates of
Henry Clay and the
'American System'
which proposed the
creation of new transportation systems connecting America which led
to the beginning of the construction of the first National Road, the
Cumberland Road.
Construction of another great road was started in 1821, the
Santa Fe Trail. The American System
also encouraged the building of canals, notably the
Erie Canal which was built between 1817
and 1825.
Significance of General Survey Act of 1824
This was also the era of great inventions and the US
Industrial Revolution, the steam locomotive and the
Railroads in
the 1800s
would soon follow. The General Survey Act of 1824 was passed by
Congress empowering the military (United States Army Corps of
Engineers) to conduct surveys to estimate and chart transportation
improvements vital to the nations military protection or economic
growth. The Corps of Engineers helped design state and
privately sponsored roads, canals and eventually railroads. The
Corps of Engineers worked under the executive branch of the
government. Soldiers were also used to lay roadbeds and clear
forests.
The General Survey Act of 1824 started with an
appropriation of $30,000 but between 1824 and 1837 a total of
$425,000 was provided to the Corps of Engineers, with few
limitations, to undertake surveys and plan internal improvements
that would build the new roads, canals and the railways of America
which fulfill the belief in
Westward Expansion and the
Manifest Destiny of the United
States. |