The United States House Committee on Roads and Canals was a

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

committee, which was initially established as a select committee in 1815 and subsequently became a

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

between 1831 and 1869. Roads and canals were an initial and integral sector of domestic improvements for transportation. Previously from 1795 to 1815, federal government support for

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 ...

was under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures. Considered closely related to increasing the value of domestic

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

and funded by protective tariffs on it, the general subject of internal improvements was one of the most contentious issues in the young republic, despite the near-universal acceptance of the need for such development. As technical advances were made and competing modes of transportation developed, the government's consensus and perspectives of them also changed. The committee was renamed the Committee on Railways and Canals between 1869 and 1927, but over this period the committee's authorized jurisdiction contracted significantly. In 1880, responsibility for many railroad related matters and the improvement of navigation of rivers were moved back to the renamed

Committee on Commerce The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate. Besides having broad jurisdiction over all matters concerning interstate commerce, science and technology policy, a ...

. In 1883 however, the new Committee on Rivers and Harbors was given jurisdiction over subjects including canals, which were related to the improvements of rivers and harbors, as well as the responsibility of reporting the river and harbor bills. The Committee on Railways and Canals was dissolved in 1927 with its remaining issues and jurisdiction being added to those of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, which was later renamed the

United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more tha ...

in 1981.

References

{{United States congressional committees Roads and Canals