CHANGES IN THE AMERCIAN INDUSTRY
TRANSPORTATION Railroads were of supreme importance to increased trade throughout the United States. By the start of the Civil War, railroads already linked the most important Midwestern cities with the Atlantic coast, fuelling the Midwest's industrial growth. Meanwhile, the great river and lake cities of the Midwest were thriving thanks to the reliable transportation afforded by the steamboat. The Cumberland Road, the first national road, was begun in 1811 and eventually became part of Interstate 40. ELECTRIFICATION The electrical network—would transform the nation even more rapidly than railroads had. Thomas Edison was the one who really gave light to the American Industrial Revolution. Building on work done primarily by a British inventor, Edison patented the world's first practical incandescent light bulb in 1879. INDUSTRY Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which made the separation of cotton seeds from fiber much faster. Whitne