“The decision which has thrown open our waters to the free competition of all citizens has already produced the most astonishing effects. Where lately but a single monopoly vessel groaned under the weight of passengers and freight at exorbitant rates, we now see a dozen steam-boats, constructed with the latest improvements in machinery, darting along our rivers and bays. The farmer of the interior now finds a ready and cheap market for his produce, and the merchant of the city can distribute his wares to the most distant settlements with a speed that would have seemed miraculous a decade ago.”
— Editorial, New York newspaper, c. 1825
Which of the following historical developments in the first half of the nineteenth century was the most direct consequence of the legal and technological shifts described in the excerpt?
- The expansion of regional economic specialization, as Western agricultural products were exchanged more efficiently for Eastern manufactured goodsAnswer
- BA series of Supreme Court decisions that curtailed the federal government's authority over interstate commerce, allowing states to protect local monopolies
- CA return to localized, self-sufficient household production as families sought independence from volatile national credit networks
- DThe rapid industrialization of the Southern economy, which quickly surpassed the Northeast in textile manufacturing capacity