N.C. Governor Daniel Webster.
The Internal Improvements Bill of 1823 was an act passed by the Northern Confederation Council and signed into law by Governor Daniel Webster. The Internal Improvements Bill was an early legislative accomplishments of the N.C.'s recently-formed Liberal Party, which represented the interests of a new class of wealthy industrialists such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Malcolm McGregor.
Although Sobel does not specify which internal improvements the bill was responsible for, it presumably subsidized the construction of roads and canals throughout the N.C., almost certainly including a canal linking the Hudson River with the Great Lakes. The building of such a canal would explain the rise of Michigan City, Indiana as a major metropolis at the southern end of Lake Michigan.