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 The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

ruling, ''

Gibbons v. Ogden ''Gibbons v. Ogden'', 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1 (1824), was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce, which was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United Sta ...

'', 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).Improving Transportation
,

USACE , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

Of the federally appropriated funds for surveys roads and canals of national importance, President

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...

allocated one third of the sum to surveying a military highway connecting

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

with

Fort Dearborn Fort Dearborn was a United States fort built in 1803 beside the Chicago River, in what is now Chicago, Illinois. It was constructed by troops under Captain John Whistler and named in honor of Henry Dearborn, then United States Secretary of War. ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Commerce and the mail soon traveled much faster on what was called the

Chicago Road (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In a separate piece of legislation passed a month later that is often called the first

Rivers and Harbors Act 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 ...

, Congress also appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

rivers by removing sandbars, snags, and other obstacles. This work also was given to the Corps of Engineers, the only formally trained body of engineers in the new republic.

Later developments

With passage of the General Survey Act, Congress empowered the military to chart transportation improvements vital to the nations military protection or commercial growth. Army engineers helped design state and private roads, canals and railroads, and soldiers cleared forests and laid roadbeds; the work was conducted under the direction of the

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...

. While the Act was initially seeded with an appropriation of $30,000, from 1824 to 1837, a total of $425,000 was provided to the Corps, with few restrictions, to undertake surveys and plan

internal improvements 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, canal ...

. Although the act does not explicitly authorize it, much of the activity supported river and harbor projects, which the Corps planned and undertook, and surveys of roads and canals, and later railroads. Between 1824 and 1837, the Corps made 120 surveys and assisted or constructed 90 projects.Forest Hill, ''Roads, Rails, and Waterways: Army Engineers and Early Transportation'', (Norman, OK: Oklahoma University Press, 1957), referenced in Stephen Minicucci,
Internal Improvements and the Union, 1790–1860
',

Studies in American Political Development Studies in American Political Development (SAPD) is a political science journal founded in 1986 and presently published by Cambridge University Press. It is the flagship journal of the American political development (APD) subfield in political sc ...

(2004), 18: p.160-185, (2004), Cambridge University Press, {{doi, 10.1017/S0898588X04000094 Over the years, more appropriations were made; and the system of roads and canals developed in other areas. The passage of the acts and the Corps' work on the various interior transportation systems were vital foundations for economic development and westward expansion of the country in the 19th century.Army Corps of Engineers, U.S.
Water Encyclopedia - Science and Issues

References

1824 in law United States federal transportation legislation