One problem might be the ability of the state to pay off their projects. A British visitor to Georgia in 1846 was struck with the difficulty experienced in raising money there by small shares for the building of mills. "He was told, why should all our cotton make so long a journey to the North, to be manufactured there, and come back to us at such a high price. It is because all spare cash is sunk here in Negroes." Though the average Southerner was twice as wealthy as the average northerner, that money was in the main was in land and slaves. Take the Erie Canal, In 1817, Clinton convinced the State legislature of New York to authorize $7 million for construction of a Canal 363 miles long, 40 feet wide and four feet deep. I believe that he also recieved federal funds. New York , I know had asked Congress for money for this project for some time but many felt that such funds should not be allocated. Anyway, New York was able to finance the project as we know, and make a tidy profit, through their toll system. One reason I suspect is because money in that region was in banking, mercantil industries and commerce, and thus easier to raise and liquidate and get than had it been in the plantation system.