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48 | Chapter Two Turnpikes and Stagecoaches I n the aftermath of the revolution, there was deep concern that if the new nation could not function as an economic whole it would soon dissolve. Providing adequate overland transportation was the key to making commerce possible on a national scale. Burdened by the repayment of state war debts, and dividedbysectionalrivalriesthatmadeconsensusdifficult,thefederal government was unable to adopt an effective policy for the funding of internal improvements. Instead, the states turned to the chartering of joint-stock corporations to solve their transportation problems. Connecticut was an early leader in turnpike construction and, due to its unique settlement pattern, experienced a longer period of construction and for its size built more turnpike roads than any other state. Meanwhile, the privately owned stagecoach services that operated over this turnpike network allowed Connecticut to take part in the business of the new nation. The Turnpike Solution With the national government preoccupied with repaying the nation’s war debt, responsibility for highway improvements fell to the individual states, who adapted the British concept of a turnpike toll road to their own needs. looking to england The poor travel conditions that existed in Connecticut and in the new nation following the Revolutionary War represented more than mere inconvenience . In the early days of the republic, as the federal government attempted to establish a national economy free from the control of European nations, the lack of the adequate transportation so essential to internal commerce was in a very real sense a threat to the fledgling union of the thirteen former colonies. turnpikes and stagecoaches | 49 While federalists and republicans alike recognized the urgency of internal improvements, the national government could do little until the war debt of the individual states had been repaid, a crucial first step in establishing the credibility of the new nation as an international trading partner. To this end, the new national government assumed responsibility for some $25 million in state war debt (including $1.6 million from Connecticut) that it proceeded to repay, year by year, using revenue collected from custom duties. With federal revenues thus committed, solving the nation’s transportation crisis fell to the states, most of which were also cash poor following the revolution. Unable to raisethelargeamountsofmoneyneededforroadimprovementsthroughtaxation , the states looked to their English heritage for a solution and adopted the toll road concept as the means of improving roads in America. England had created its first toll road in 1663, under the reign of Charles II, along the Great North Road between London and Scotland, a heavily traveled road difficult to maintain through statute labor. Under this law, all toll revenue was collected by county commissioners and applied directly to repairing the road in question. By the start of the eighteenth century, several other publicly operated turnpikes had been created in Britain, mainly in the vicinity of London.∞ During the eighteenth century, as toll roads in England proliferated, the concept established under Charles II changed dramatically. In the place of publicly operated county turnpikes, the government created privately operated turnpike trusts. The power to collect tolls and order repairs, previously held by accountable county justices, was given to groups of private individuals who were permitted to appoint surveyors, demand statute labor of local towns, and mortgage tolls to raise capital. Eventually, the power of these private trustees was increased to include the right to raise capital through subscription, to purchase land, and to divert an existing road to a new location, all with no credible oversight. By the end of the eighteenth century, as the former English colonies in America were about to embark on their own turnpike construction, private turnpike trusts in England had produced a plethora of roads that were ineffectively administered by groups of men who were often corrupt. So when Connecticut and other states began to charter their own toll roads, they were careful to adapt the turnpike concept to more moderate, conservative ends.≤ 75] Project MUSE (2024-04-19 07:11 GMT) 50 | post roads & iron horses connecticut’s first turnpikes Connecticut’s first turnpike was the Mohegan Road, created in May 1792 to run on the west side of the Thames River along the existing road from New London to Norwich. The Mohegan Road was the first turnpike created in New England and the second in America. That fall, the General Assembly also created the Greenwich Road, the state’s second turnpike (and America’s third) along a portion of the Post Road in the...

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