The General Survey Act was a law passed by the United States Congress in April 1824, which authorized the president to have surveys made of routes for transport roads and canals "of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail." While such infrastructure of national scope had been discussed and shown wanting for years, its passage shortly followed the landmark Supreme Court ruling, Gibbons v. Ogden

Gibbons v. Ogden

Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 , was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The case was argued by some of America's most admired and...

, which first established federal authority over interstate commerce including navigation by river. The president assigned responsibility for the surveys to the Corps of Engineers

United States Army Corps of Engineers

The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

 (USACE).

Of the federally appropriated funds for surveys roads and canals of national importance President James Monroe

James Monroe

James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...

 allocated one third of the sum to surveying a military highway connecting Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 with Fort Dearborn

Fort Dearborn

Fort Dearborn was a United States fort built in 1803 beside the Chicago River in what is now Chicago, Illinois. It was constructed by troops under Captain John Whistler and named in honor of Henry Dearborn, then United States Secretary of War. The original fort was destroyed following the Battle of...

 in Chicago, Illinois. Commerce and the mail soon traveled much faster on what was called the Chicago Road

U.S. Route 12 in Michigan

US Highway 12 is a US Highway that runs from Aberdeen, Washington to Detroit, Michigan. In the US state of Michigan it runs for . Previous to the creation of Interstate Highways in Michigan, US 12 ran along Michigan Avenue between Kalamazoo and Detroit, a highway corridor now served by I-94...

.

In a separate piece of legislation passed a month later (often called the first Rivers and Harbors Act

Rivers and Harbors Act

Rivers and Harbors Act may refer to one of many pieces of legislation and appropriations passed by the United States Congress since the first such legislation in 1824. At that time congress appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by removing sandbars, snags,...

), Congress also appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the Ohio

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 and Mississippi

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 rivers by removing sandbars, snags, and other obstacles. This work also was given to the Corps of Engineers, the only formally trained body of engineers in the new republic.

Later developments

With passage of the General Survey Act, Congress empowered the military to chart transportation improvements vital to the nations military protection or commercial growth. Army engineers helped design state and privately sponsored roads, canals and railroads, and soldiers cleared forests and laid roadbeds; this work was conducted under the direction of the executive branch. While this Act was initially seeded with an appropriation of $30,000, between 1824 and 1837 a total of $425,000 was provided to the Corps, with few restrictions, to undertake surveys and plan internal improvements

Internal improvements

Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canals, harbors and navigation improvements...

. Although the act does not explicitly authorize it, much of this activity supported river and harbor projects, which the Corps planned and undertook, as well as the surveys of roads and canals, and later railroads. Between 1824 and 1837 the Corps made 120 surveys and assisted or constructed 90 projects. Over the years, more appropriations were made; and the system of roads and canals developed in other areas. The passage of these acts and the Corps' work on the various interior transportation systems were vital foundations for economic development and westward expansion of the country in the 19th century.