Social Studies - The construction of a transportation network that included roads, canals, and steamboats

The construction of a transportation network that included roads, canals, and steamboats that took shape in the United States in the early decades of the nineteenth century had which of the following effects in the years before the Civil War? 

(A) It decreased the need for immigrant labor. 

(B) It stimulated the development of a market revolution. 

(C) It weakened the plantation system in the southern states. 

(D) It transformed the United States into an international military power.

Answer: 

Option (B) is correct. 

By 1850, the United States had put in place a transportation network based on roads, canals, and steamboats. This network enabled factories and farms to get their goods to market much more efficiently and cheaply. Economic expansion increased the demand for immigrant labor; the plantation economy was also strengthened. The nation did not, however, become an international military power during this period.