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What was the Cumberland Road?

The Cumberland Road (also called the National Road) was the first road paid for by the U.S. government. When completed it extended from Cumberland, Maryland, across the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio River valley. Responding to the demands of settlers, Congress (the law-making body of the United States) approved the road in 1806, but construction did not begin until 1811. It took six years for the road to reach present-day Wheeling, West Virginia, a distance of 130 miles (209 kilometers). In 1830 President Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) gave the project a boost when he appropriated (set aside for a specific purpose) $130,000 to survey (to determine the boundary and elevation of a piece of land) and extend the road farther westward; by 1852 it crossed Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, ending in Vandalia, east of St. Louis, Missouri.

Although the Cumberland Road cost the government $7,000,000,...

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