How The Erie Canal Shaped And Reshaped The Identity Of New York State

Unfortunately, with few exceptions, navigable rivers and lakes did not link up conveniently to form usable transportation networks. Before the war of 1812m some Americans considered canals as a likely solution, but enormous costs and engineering problems had limited canal construction to less than 100 miles. After the war, the entry of development opened the way to an era of canal building. New York State was most successful at canal development. In 1817 the state started work on on a canal that would run over more than 350 miles’ form Lake Erie to the Hudson River. About three thousand workers worked on digging a huge ditch that would eventually form the Erie Canal. The last leg was completed in 1825 and the first freight boat made its way from Buffalo to Albany and then on to New York

The Erie Canal provided an extremely fast source of transportation compared to other ones of that time. A lot of the land that the Canal went through was uninhabited and therefore people weren’t able to move through these areas. Once the Canal was built it served as that pathway through these areas. The Canal also was a much cheaper source of transportation that was used by residents, tourists, emigrants, and workers during this time. Evangelical preachers used the artificial

Another major way the Erie Canal was a paradox was that it the New York state government started taking on new responsibilities. This resulted in many people depending on the state government of New York and Canal Board in helping them reach financial success. While the canal was being built, there were constant complaints of how the canal made a person lose business. The New York state government was building the canal to spur economic activity, and now they were being blamed for the canal decreasing so many people’s profit. Obviously the canal would not have helped everybody in New York in a positive way, but it would not affect such a

Have you ever needed easier access to the essential items to stay alive? This is specifically what the residents of the North-East thought around the year 1817. Carol Sheriff argues in her book, “The Artificial River” that the residents of the canal corridor actively sought after long-distance trade and therefore consumer goods that markets brought to their homes. The fact that people supported the Erie Canal at all "suggests that at least some aspired to engage in broader market exchange" (p. 11). The transformation of this region because of the Erie Canal is organized around six topics, each of which is covered by a chapter. They include the; Visions of Progress, the Triumph of Art over Nature, Reducing Distance and Time, the Politics of Land and Water, the Politics of Business, and the Perils of Progress.

Numerous factors brought unity to an adolescent nation which prevailed the confidence Americans needed for self-identity. As rapid mass-communication and transportation became easily available, any individual had the luxury of pursuing a life with personal freedoms just a grasp away. Moving west was made attractive for numerous reasons. For example, shipping products such as beaver fur enable a fashionable trend which sparked a demand in garments. The construction of the Erie Canal in 1825 that connected the Great Lakes with the Hudson River boomed the motivation, whether it was cost effective or not, completing miles into small distances, according to a journalist, “In thirty-six minutes we had passed near three miles, and reached the east of an embankment about 136 chains long across the valley of the Sedaqueda creek”. This economic process boomed with new opportunities for average Americans during the Era of Good Feeling. The early republic also had more busted effects from internal

In 19th century, Henry Clay proposed three terms to improve United States, as we called “American System”: establishing the Bank of the United States, protecting American manufacturers, and building canals and roads. For internal improvements, the construction of Erie Canal and Cumberland road played an important role in the development of the market in West and Northeast. First, Erie Canal linked the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, and it helped western farmers to transport crops to the east much faster and more convenient. Second, Cumberland Road was the first road built by the United States government, and it accelerated the development of Ohio and Northwest area. Both of these two constructions dramatically promoted the Market Revolution

Erie Canal is a vital channel of the United States, connecting the Great Lakes with New York City through the Hudson River at Albany. Misusing the Mohawk River opening in the Appalachian Mountains, the Erie Canal is 584 km (363 miles) long, it was the essential divert in the United States to connect western conductors with the Atlantic Ocean. Advancement began in 1817 and was done in 1825. Its flourishing moved New York City into an imperative business center and invigorated the Erie channel's advancement all through the United States.

The Erie canal helped shape America. The Northwest was expanding and needed to get their products to the east coast. However, they seemed to be lacking a water source. Since the Erie canal was connected from the Hudson river to the Great lakes this made it possible for farmers to transport goods to the east coast without a problem. The Erie canal paved the pathway to a more stable America and an economic growth by allowing transportation, trade, exporting and importing goods to be more accessible through the United States. “This great work will immortalize the present authorities of N.Y. will bless their descendants with wealth and prosperity, and prove to mankind the superiority wisdom of employing the resources of industry in works of improvement rather than destruction.” The canal combined trade and transportation allowing for commerce to help speed up the Industrialization in the United States after the Erie canal was

The astounding achievement of building the Panama Canal did not come without great loss. Within great achievement and betterment of the world, sometimes comes great tragedy. Great change also doesn’t happen without a strong fight. The workers who helped build the canal knew what they were up against. They knew that famine, disease, dangerous jobs, and a great deal of loss of human life laid ahead, but these workers were willing to sacrifice everything to see this canal built. They knew the economic implications of having a canal like this. They wanted to make their personal country’s economy better environments for their wives and children to thrive in and make a better life for their ancestors. This could be done with the money they made working on the canal, as well as how their own children would live in more stable economies in their home countries because of the canal. They were willing to fight for the great change that eventually ensued.

“The iron rail, flanged wheel and puffing locomotive appeared in America by 1830. In the next twenty years the railroad brought a new dimension and added a new flavor to American transportation. The first railroads frequently helped American cities (and in turn were aided themselves) as they sought a larger share of western markets. (Stover, p10) As the canal craze was replaced with the rail craze, America once again found a means to connect north to south and east to west. Rails could do what canals could not; they could penetrate the dry arid areas, steep mountainous areas, span rivers, go up, over, or down under any impedance. But the penultimate advantaged was speed and time saved.

This made it very hard for the individual states to come up with the money. Usually private investors took care of this issue (Roark, 260). Canals were another way for an increase in transportation. They would connect cities, such as the Erie Canal, which covered the area between Albany and Buffalo and connecting New York City to the area of the Great Lakes (Roark, 261). Railroads also came into the picture with the first railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio in 1829 (Roark, 262).

The Artificial River, a well thought of 177 paged book written by the author Carol Sheriff whom at the time was an graduate at Yale University and finished it off while an assistant professor at William and Mary. This compelling book captures and emphasis the success and downfall the Erie canal has brought to the people. Sheriff has a clear notion that “progress” viewed differently through the eyes of conflicting people and status. What one envisioned the Canal turn out to be fluctuated from another. Progress to them meant in large part men and women take apart an active role in the community that they are in which the construction of the Erie canal consisted of people doing just that. She apprehended that whomever supported the canal had some dream and hope to actively be apart a wider range or market exchange. In Sheriff words she says that progress would play a central role in defining Northern sectional identity in decades. The book will explore six topics which are titled Vision of Progress, The Triumph of Art over Nature, Reducing time and distance, Politics of land and water, Politics of Business and The Perils of Progress all of which I will touch on throughout the paper.

The events regarding the Panama Canal as discussed in David McCullough’s The Path Between Seas allowed an impressive assertion of American power--the likes of which had never before been displayed.  In it’s rich history, this novel offers recollections of failure on France’s part, American strength overcoming Columbian resistance, and triumphant success of medical care and engineering.

The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.

Love Canal is one of the most iconic and appalling environmental tragedies in American history. Dreamed up by a visionary, William T. Love built Love Canal to create a dream community on the fringe of Niagara Falls where all could see it as a dream community. Love built the Canal because he thought that by digging a short canal between two rivers that he could generate electricity to power homes and business in the community surrounding the canal. With the invention of AC power and a depression, the canals power systems were never installed and it remained as a dry canal for quite some time. It’s ironic that it had such grand intentions considering the Love Canal would become one of Americas most polluted superfund sites in American history.