"By 1838, over 2,000 Americans had been killed and many hundreds injured by exploding steam engines on steamboats. After presidential calls for a solution in two State of the Union addresses, a Senate Select Committee met to consider a report from the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, the first federally funded investigation into a technical catastrophe.

Although the report was well written by top scientists of the day and included an effective bill to solve the technical problems of steam engines, when the bill was drawn, a key segment was X-ed out. Thus, the wrong piece of legislation was passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Van Buren as the United State's first piece of interstate commerce legislation.

The explosions and death aboard steamboats continued, however, for another 14 years before corrective legislation was passed." "Exploding Steamboats, Senate Debates, and Technical Reports investigates the rhetoric, politics, and technology of antebellum America, offering timeless insights into the nature of writing, reading, and public control of technology."--BOOK JACKET.