During the eighteen hundreds how did the simple transportation device of steamboats affect the political makeup in the United States government? Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the use of steamboats grew heavily throughout the nation of the United States, as well as world wide. During this time the United States was in desperate need of a new sufficient source of transportation, the steamboat allowed a large expansion of the growing nation, through its many natural waterways, as well as man made canals that were soon constructed. Serving as a great tool for businesses and the development of the United States economically and socially, these vessels also contributed to the evolution of the government and its politics. Becoming one of the fastest sources of transportation, the economical competition to control such a gold mine at the time was very high; and with such conflicts it is not...