The history of turnpikes and canals in the United States dates to work accomplished and attempted in the original thirteen colonies, predicated on European technology and its attendant advancement of commerce known before the American Revolutionary War. With their victory and independence, the fledgling federal government found itself sovereign over an area stretching along the Atlantic seaboard from New Hampshire to Georgia, and as far inland as the Mississippi River; it encompassed an area exceeding that of any western European nation of the time, with which it intended to trade, but without a competitive national infrastructure. While the coasting trade was relatively developed, the nation possessed limited transportation and communication lines with its interior, other than its recogni