To Market, To Market

A Middle School Web Activity

Introduction

As the newly established United States moved into the 19^th century, changes occurred in settlement patterns. More and more Americans moved westward from their east coast farms and towns to settle in areas that provided more land, with additional room to grow. For example, during the first half of the 1800s, the population center of the United States shifted from Baltimore, Maryland to Chillicothe, Ohio. Along with the shift westward came a series of improvements in transportation that greatly impacted the economic lives of those who moved West, particularly those who settled land beyond the Appalachian Mountains .

Every year your school hosts a History Fair. As an 8^th grader, you must submit an entry based on an event in U. S. History. You decided to investigate the various improvements in transportation that took place in the early 1800s and how those improvements led to the growth of a market economy. Since this is a pretty intense topic, you have decided to enlist the help of three of your friends and complete a group project that will be submitted for judging at the History Fair.

You and your friends met recently to determine how to proceed. Each of you decided to take a different aspect to research and report back on to the group. When all four of you have completed your research, you will pool your information to create a display entitled To Market, To Market.

For this Web Quest you will complete the research necessary to develop a display for the History Fair. Your display must contain the following components:

A product that explains the meaning of a market economy.
A multimedia presentation that lists four improvements in transportation, the dates that each was developed, and a brief explanation of how the development improved transportation in the United States between 1800 and 1850.
A timeline of the four improvements in transportation
A graphic organizer that depicts how these improvements led to the growth of a market economy.