While such infrastructure of national scope had been discussed and shown wanting for years, its passage shortly followed the landmark US Supreme Court ruling, Gibbons v. Ogden, which first established federal authority over interstate commerce, including navigation by river.
Army engineers helped design state and private roads, canals, and railroads, and soldiers cleared forests and laid roadbeds;[6] the work was conducted under the direction of the executive branch.
While the Act was initially seeded with an appropriation of $30,000, from 1824 to 1837, a total of $425,000 was provided to the Corps, with few restrictions, to undertake surveys and plan internal improvements.
Although the act does not explicitly authorize it, much of the activity supported river and harbor projects, which the Corps planned and undertook, and surveys of roads and canals, and later railroads.
The passage of the 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.