United States House Committee on Roads and Canals

Last updated

The United States House Committee on Roads and Canals was a U.S. House committee, which was initially established as a select committee in 1815 and subsequently became a standing committee between 1831 and 1869. [1] Roads and canals were an initial and integral sector of domestic improvements for transportation. Previously from 1795 to 1815, federal government support for internal improvements was under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures. [2] Considered closely related to increasing the value of domestic commerce and funded by protective tariffs on it, the general subject of internal improvements was one of the most contentious issues in the young republic, despite the near-universal acceptance of the need for such development.

As technical advances were made and competing modes of transportation developed, the government's consensus and perspectives of them also changed. The committee was renamed the Committee on Railways and Canals between 1869 and 1927, but over this period the committee's authorized jurisdiction contracted significantly. In 1880, responsibility for many railroad related matters and the improvement of navigation of rivers were moved back to the renamed Committee on Commerce. In 1883 however, the new Committee on Rivers and Harbors was given jurisdiction over subjects including canals, which were related to the improvements of rivers and harbors, as well as the responsibility of reporting the river and harbor bills. [3] The Committee on Railways and Canals was dissolved in 1927 with its remaining issues and jurisdiction being added to those of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, [4] which was later renamed the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce in 1981.

Related Research Articles

Transportation in the United States methods of transportation in the United States

Transportation in the United States is facilitated by road, air, rail, and waterways. The vast majority of passenger travel occurs by automobile for shorter distances, and airplane for longer distances. In descending order, most cargoes travel by railroad, truck, pipeline, or boat; air shipping is typically used only for perishables and premium express shipments. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions by the United States.

Intracoastal Waterway inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States

The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Boston, Massachusetts, southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, Texas. Some sections of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, while others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea.

United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation standing committee of the United States Senate

The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate. Besides having broad jurisdiction over all matters concerning interstate commerce, science and technology policy, and transportation, the Senate Commerce Committee is one of the largest of the Senate's standing committees, with 27 members in the 116th Congress. Composed of six subcommittees, the Committee's Chair is Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and its Ranking Member is Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). The majority office is housed in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, and the minority office is located in the Hart Senate Office Building.

Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canals, harbors and navigation improvements. This older term carries the connotation of a political movement that called for the exercise of public spirit as well as the search for immediate economic gain. Improving the country's natural advantages by developments in transportation was, in the eyes of George Washington and many others, a duty incumbent both on governments and on individual citizens.

The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives.

Coleford, Somerset Human settlement in England

Coleford is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the Mells River in the Mendip Hills five miles west of Frome. The parish has a population of 2,313 in 2011.

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism ministry of Japan

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, abbreviated MLIT, is a ministry of the Japanese government. It is responsible for one-third of all the laws and orders in Japan, and is the largest Japanese ministry in terms of employees, as well as the second-largest executive agency of the Japanese government after the Ministry of Defense. The ministry oversees four external agencies including the Japan Coast Guard and the Japan Tourism Agency.

The Maysville Road veto occurred on May 27, 1830, when United States President Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill that would allow the federal government to purchase stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road Company, which had been organized to construct a road linking Lexington, Kentucky, to Maysville on the Ohio River, the entirety of which would be in the state of Kentucky. Its advocates regarded it as a part of the national Cumberland Road system. Congress passed a bill in 1830 providing federal funds to complete the project. Jackson vetoed the bill on the grounds that federal funding of intrastate projects of this nature was unconstitutional. He declared that such bills violated the principle that the federal government should not be involved in local economic affairs. Jackson also pointed out that funding for these kinds of projects interfered with paying off the national debt.

Market Weighton Canal canal in East Yorkshire, United Kingdom

The Market Weighton Canal ran 9.5 miles (15.3 km) from the Humber Estuary to its terminus near Market Weighton. It gained its Act of Parliament in 1772 and opened in 1782. The 3.5 miles (5.6 km) closest to Market Weighton was abandoned in 1900 and the right of navigation through Weighton lock was lost in 1971. However, as of 2002 the lock was passable and the canal usable up to the junction with the River Foulness where silt has made it impassable. Also there is no right of navigation under the M62 motorway bridge to the north of Newport.

American System (economic plan) economic plan

The American System was an economic plan that played an important role in American policy during the first half of the 19th century. Rooted in the "American School" ideas of Alexander Hamilton, the plan "consisted of three mutually reinforcing parts: a tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other 'internal improvements' to develop profitable markets for agriculture". Congressman Henry Clay was the plan's foremost proponent and the first to refer to it as the "American System".

The United States House Committee on Commerce was a standing committee of the U.S. House from 1819 until 1892; it was established when the previous Committee on Commerce and Manufactures, which has existed since 1795, was split into two different committees. The committee existed until 1891, when its name was changed to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development government agency in Louisiana, United States

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD) is a state government organization in the United States, in charge of maintaining public transportation, roadways, bridges, canals, select levees, floodplain management, port facilities, commercial vehicles, and aviation which includes 69 airports, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The agency has approximately five thousand personnel on staff and an operating budget of $2.3 billion. DOTD operations are run through nine district offices across the state.

The United States Senate Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, was a Senate committee, initially authorized by Senate resolution as a select committee on December 16, 1872. The select committee, also known as the Windom Select Committee for its first chairman, William Windom, submitted their significant report regarding current rail and water transportation on April 24, 1874; it was ordered to be printed the same day. The committee became a standing committee on March 19, 1879, with little documented activity, and continued to exist until 1921.

History of turnpikes and canals in the United States Development of transportation links in the USA.

The history of turnpikes and canals in the United States began with work attempted and accomplished in the original thirteen colonies, predicated on European technology. After gaining independence, the United States grew westward, crossing the Appalachian Mountains with the admission of new states and then doubling in size with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The only means of transportation at the time between the coastal states and interior lands remained on water, by canoe, boat and ship, or over land on foot and by pack animal. Recognizing the success of Roman roads in unifying that empire, political and business leaders in the United States began to construct roads and canals to connect the disparate parts of the nation.

Rivers and Harbors Act may refer to one of many pieces of legislation and appropriations passed by the United States Congress since the first such legislation in 1824. At that time Congress appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by removing sandbars, snags, and other obstacles. Like when first passed, the legislation was to be administered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), under its Chief Engineer and the Secretary of War.

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 Corps of Engineers (USACE).

The House Committee on Rivers and Harbors was a U.S. House committee from 1883 until 1946. It was authorized early in the 48th Congress in December 1883, when the committee was given jurisdiction over subjects relating to the improvements of rivers and harbors; it also had the responsibility of reporting the river and harbor bills to the floor. These functions previously had been handled by the Committee on Commerce.

Inland Waterways Commission

The Inland Waterways Commission was created by Congress in March 1907, at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt, to investigate the transportation crisis that recently had affected nation's ability to move its produce and industrial production efficiently. The immediate crisis centered on insufficient railroad capacity developed by the private sector, and competing but neglected inland shipping, the navigation of which had been deemed under federal purview since 1824. The temporary commission lasted until the end of Roosevelt's presidency, but his conservationist progressive interest was focused more than on transportation alone. The president wanted water projects to be considered for their multiple uses and in relation to other natural resources and asked for a comprehensive plan for the improvement and control of the river systems of the United States.

The United States House Committee on Public Works was a U.S. House committee, established in 1947 by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, that had jurisdiction over infrastructure within the United States. It was dissolved in 1968 and superseded by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

References

  1. "Committee on Roads and Canals (1831-69) Jurisdiction and History". National Archives . Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  2. "Records of the Committees Relating to Public Works (1815-1988)". National Archives . Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  3. "Committee on Rivers and Harbors (1883-1946) History and Jurisdiction". National Archives . Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  4. "Committee on Railways and Canals, (1869-1927)) History and Jurisdiction". National Archives . Retrieved 25 November 2011.