History of the United States I / Unit 12 USH1 1661 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Steamboat
Captions available
The idea
Seventeen steamboats worked western rivers in eighteen seventeen, over seven hundred by eighteen thirty-seven.
In practice
About thirty-five hundred vessels moving in and out of New Orleans by eighteen sixty, carrying cotton worth two hundred twenty million dollars a year.
Where people slip
While the decks carried cargo, ornate rooms graced the interior, where White passengers were served by enslaved people.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
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