Well fossil fuels are such a largely used resource in the economy it is hard to transition from it since its so depended on for many things.
When europeans first came to America they setteld between the Atlantic coast and the Appalachian Mountains because they were difficult to cross. The goverment did not allow colonist to pass this mountains because the other side was indian territory. This rule was doing fine untill the land at the east of the Appalachian started to fill with farms and towns built by the colonists. They wanted more to fulfill the people´s needs. By the late 1700s many settlers crossed the Appalachian. But it was Daniel Boom in 1769 who discovered an indian trail throught the Cumberland Gap, he helped built there a road with the name of wilderness road.
But many years before that there was a group of people that tried to cross the Appalachian Mountains, the first european explorers were from Spain, Hernando de Soto and his troops traversed the region in the 1540 searching for gold. The first english exploration of the mountain were from a guy named Abraham Wood which began around 1650, he sent exploring parties to make direct contact with the Cherokee tribe in order to stablish a trade relationship.
Althought there were many explorations before the Boom´s one, Daniel was the first in create a trail known as the Wilderness Road, it was steep, narrow, rough and could only be traversed on foot or horseback, despite this many people used it particularly slaveholders after some states had abolish the slavery and become free states.
I hope that the answer help you.
After the War of 1812, DeWitt Clinton of New York boldly suggested that a canal be constructed from Lake Erie to Albany (363 miles) using the Mohawk River and then the Hudson River to connect with New York City. Such a project had no precedent in the United States. <span>the canals greatly reduced shipping costs, time, and distances</span>
I’m not so sure about the north but i know that the south was very angry because they claimed it was an inaccurate depiction of slaveholders. I hope this helps!
C is the answer I believe to your question