Talk:Internal improvements

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Source?[edit]

Internal improvements was the preferred term, as used by proponents of the American System of economics, for discussion of government-supported infrastructure or public works. The term was used in connection with such projects as the Erie Canal, the Cumberland Road, and the Transcontinental Railroad.

What's our source for this? -Willmcw 21:15, 20 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The present version has footnotes to the relevant source. --HK 15:20, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This version as opposed to a redirect[edit]

I think it's important to note the historic significance of the term "internal improvements," rather than just considering it to be synonymous with "public works." The version I just reverted to has links to public works and infrastructure, but also a reference to some of the individuals in history who campaigned for what were called "internal improvements," which will certainly be of interest to encyclopedia readers who are looking up that subject. And as a note to the anonymous editor who wanted to add material on Henry Clay, there is also a link to American System (economics), where material on Clay would be appropriate. --HK 15:20, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Your footnoted source says:

Many names have been given to these facilities. Henry Clay called it “the American System;” James Monroe and DeWitt Clinton referred to it as internal improvements; Walt W. Rostow uses the term “social overhead capital;” while Raul Prebisch favors the term “infrastructure.” All mean essentially the same thing.[1]

If that is the case then it should be a redirect to American System. -Willmcw 21:47, 25 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

IMHO, that would be a clinical example of disrupting Wikipedia to make a point. If someone is looking up the expression "internal improvements," we should endeavor to make their quest as productive as possible. "American System" is a broader concept than just "internal improvements," but it is a related concept, and the present version of the article provides a link to it, as well as to other related concepts such as "public works." --HK 22:16, 25 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see any disruption. In any case, we should work our way up from our sources. The only source we seem to have, thus far, says that it is a synonym for ""American System". -Willmcw 22:29, 25 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Background and early development[edit]

Reading this section for the first time, it seems a jumble of vaguely related thoughts, which suggest more questions than answers. Perhaps this is just where previous editors dumped misc text. Alas, I don't have the subject matter expertise to clean it up nor flesh it out. I'm sorry to criticize and run; I just wish the article was more informative and objective. Zulu Kane (talk) 16:32, 14 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

imprecise wording[edit]

this single largest project of the antebellum era, with nearly US$7 million in federal dollars spent between 1806 and 1841.

seems imprecise; it should be single largest federal project, as Erie canal was similar — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.245.17.105 (talk) 15:30, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]