The two major advances in transportation that took place during the 1800s were the steamboat and the train. In the United States at the beginning of the 1800s, essentially all transportation was either by animal power or by wind power (sails) Other boats could go down rivers, but not back up them. Nothing could go overland except if it was pulled by animals. The invention of the steamboat changed this so that boats could go either direction on rivers. When railroads were first built and later expanded, the problem of moving goods and people overland was solved too.
