Which best explains why settlers in the northwest territory chose to be near lakes and rivers in the late 1700s? they hoped the waterways would provide a route across the continent to the pacific. they wanted to harness the power of the waterways to build new factories. they wanted to use the waterways to transport goods and crops to distant markets. they planned to use these waterways to defend their properties from attack.

they wanted to use the waterways to transport goods and crops to distant markets.

The Northwest Territory was formed after the Revolutionary War. It included all the land west of Pennsylvania, northwest of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River below the Great Lakes (what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota). The territory was mostly wilderness, sparsely populated by Native Americans and some French colonists. Most settlers that moved to the territory wanted to be near lakes and rivers, particularly the Ohio and Miami Rivers, and the Great Lakes. This was so that they could transport goods and crops to other markets in the country.

is there multiple