internal improvements

congress voted in 1817 to distribute $1.5 million to the states for internal improvements(roads and canals) especially for road-poor west. Madison claimed it was unconstitutional. Jeffersonian republicans disapproved on the idea of direct federal support of intrastate  internal improvements. New England especially opposed federally constructed roads and canals because such outlets would further drain away population and create competing states beyond the mountains.
-recent attempts to invade Canada  had all failed partly because of badly constructed roads or non at all