write:A number of mid-westerners were as angry about Polk’s veto of the Riversand Harbors Bill which would have done so much toimprove transportation and commerce in their portionof t

Kentucky
and Tennessee explains the appeal of theWhig vision of an activist central government among apopulation that otherwise venerated the frontier valuesand expansionist platform of Andrew Jackson’sDemocratic Party. What hope could there be for aedgling community far from the seat of power
or for ayoung and penniless but ambitious man
without thehelping hand of the government
with its protectivetaris and ability to extend credit? A number of mid-westerners were as angry about Polk’s veto of the Riversand Harbors Bill
which would have done so much toimprove transportation and commerce in their portionof the country
as they were about the war with Mexico.The shortest route to Washington from Springeldwas 840 miles
mostly by stagecoach
which was afantastically uncomfortable way to travel
particularlywith small children. Overcrowded coaches bounced andjostled over rutted roads that were dusty in the summerand muddy in the winter. In dicult patches passengerswere expected to get out and walk. Travel was totallyunregulated and accidents frequent. Undergreased axlesbroke or caught re; coaches collided with pedestriansand smaller vehicles
sank into streams or holes
or
dramatically
toppled over
often resulting in seriousinjuries. On the “splendid turnpikes in Kentucky”(nanced with help from Henry Clay) travel wasrelatively safe
but on the “natural roads” virtuallyeverywhere else
“the pitching from side to side was likethat of a small steamer on a coasting trip.” In the best ofcircumstances passengers could expect to arrive at theirdestination hungry
thirsty
sleepy
and covered withdust. Grisly accounts of less favorable outcomes wereeasy to nd in local newspapers.27