Editing James Monroe (section)

====Internal improvements====
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As the United States continued to grow, many Americans advocated a system of [[internal improvements]] to help the country develop. Federal assistance for such projects evolved slowly and haphazardly—the product of contentious congressional factions and an executive branch generally concerned with avoiding unconstitutional federal intrusions into state affairs.<ref name=ArmyCoE>{{cite web|title=The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: A Brief History Improving Transportation|url=https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Brief-History-of-the-Corps/Improving-Transportation/|publisher=United States Army Corps of Engineers|access-date=February 26, 2017}}</ref> Monroe believed that the young nation needed an improved infrastructure, including a transportation network to grow and thrive economically, but did not think that the Constitution authorized Congress to build, maintain, and operate a national transportation system,<ref name=JM:DA>{{cite web|title=James Monroe: Domestic Affairs|url=https://millercenter.org/president/monroe/domestic-affairs|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia|access-date=February 22, 2017|date=October 4, 2016}}</ref> Monroe repeatedly urged Congress to pass an amendment allowing Congress the power to finance internal improvements, but Congress never acted on his proposal, in part because many congressmen believed that the Constitution did in fact authorize the federal financing of internal improvements.{{sfn|Cunningham|1996|pp=165–166}} In 1822, Congress passed a bill authorizing the collection of tolls on the [[Cumberland Road]], with the tolls being used to finance repairs on the road. Adhering to stated position regarding internal improvements, Monroe vetoed the bill.{{sfn|Cunningham|1996|pp=165–166}} In an elaborate essay, Monroe set forth his constitutional views on the subject. Congress might appropriate money, he admitted, but it might not undertake the actual construction of national works nor assume jurisdiction over them.{{sfn|Johnson|1915|pp=309–310}}

In 1824, the Supreme Court ruled in ''[[Gibbons v. Ogden]]'' that the Constitution's [[Commerce Clause]] gave the federal government the authority to regulate interstate commerce. Shortly thereafter, Congress passed two important laws that, together, marked the beginning of the federal government's continuous involvement in civil works. The [[General Survey Act]] authorized the president to have surveys made of routes for roads and canals "of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail". The president assigned responsibility for the surveys to the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]]. The second act, passed a month later, appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] and [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] rivers by removing sandbars, snags, and other obstacles. Subsequently, the act was amended to include other rivers such as the [[Missouri River|Missouri]]. This work, too, was given to the Corps of Engineers—the only formally trained body of engineers in the new republic and, as part of the nation's small army, available to serve the wishes of Congress and the executive branch.<ref name=ArmyCoE/>