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Article Analysis: The Erie Canal

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Although the Erie Canal was proposed in 1807, the construction did not commence until 1817, the canal originally ran 363 miles from Albany, to Buffalo, New York, along the Hudson River, which they have since improved and expanded the canal throughout the years. Without steamships or railroads during this period, the only way to transport goods was by pack animals, which was time consuming, expensive and had unreliable delivery dates, in turn the canal was built to create a new water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes to provide a more efficient and cost effective transportation system of good and products to the western interior of the United States.
I am writing this paper to compare and contrast three authors’ views over the …show more content…

Bernstein who wrote the article “Waters of wealth; The Erie canal” states, that the idea of the canal was founded based on the idea that the “country’s founders saw that this land [the western United States] might easily drift out of their control if it lacked intercourse with the coast”. Bernstein illustrates the failed attempts of previous canals and displays the ideas of Elkanah Watson, which thought that an artificial waterway would reduce the cost of moving shipments, thus giving birth to the idea of the Erie canal, he continues on by showing how American politicians perceived the canal and the concerns they had with it being completed. In conclusion, Bernstein stated that the canal offered “Americans a vision of themselves as a great trading nation as in moving goods to …show more content…

“the canal’s impact was immediate” New York became an immense immigration hub with hundreds of thousands of Irish and German men and women pouring into the United States and the canal allowed them to move faster and cheaper into the northwestern interior of the country, with this massive influx in the population around the northern areas, the North greatly outnumbered the South. With the larger population, the North was able to fill the blue-coated armies and keep the industrial businesses up and running, “the wealth and population-generating power of the canal made New York the “Empire State”, states Pierson. The author goes on to say that without the canal during the civil war, that the citizens of the northwestern areas would depend on the Mississippi to transport their goods to market, which in turn would make them more sympathetic to the Confederacy, but with the Erie canal, the western products went to feed and support the growing regions of the mid-Atlantic area and specifically New

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While John Quincy Adams was in office, the 363 mile - long Erie Canal is completed from Lake Erie to New York City, linking the Atlantic and trans-Atlantic markets with the growing agricultural production in the Northwest states. They began the construction of the Erie Canal in 1817. Adams had strongly supported the national planning of and the use of national funds for an improved transportation foundation. In 1826, Military Training Manuals were created. Also, while Adams was in office he attempted to find something to provide Native Americans with territory in the West, but this failed to find support in Congress.

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In her book, “The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862”, author Carol Sheriff reveals that the creation of the Erie Canal fostered both pride in American republicanism and an underlining start to class tensions. Sheriff backs her discussion by highlighting in the chapter, “The Triumph of Art over Nature”, how higher class citizens cherished the idea of republicanism being represented in the Canal, yet the people who constructed this feat had no characteristic of this idea. The author’s purpose is to educate the reader so they understand that class tension stem from the fact that canal workers were seen as an oversight in credit for building this Canal and contributing to the progression of America. The Erie Canal represented not only American’s optimistic vision for progress but inequality between men of different classes. This inequality would ultimately be contradictory to the republicanism idea of freedom and citizenship in America.

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The Erie Canal played an enormous part in the economic growth in the United States. The Canal helped to cause an increase in industry along the Hudson River. Now, commercial vessels could travel all the way from the Hudson River to Lake Erie (Doc. 1A). This meant that they could bring goods to the people that couldn’t normally get them, because they were too expensive, or they had no way to get to them. Thousands of settlers began to utilize the Erie Canal to move west (OI).

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The Erie Canal was important to New York City’s trade for many reasons. First, the Erie Canal created a transportation system that allowed goods to easily flow between the Great lakes and New York City. Second the creation of the canal attracted an influx of farmers who were migrating from New England. This influx of farmers led to the creation of cities like Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse along the canal. The Most important effect of the Erie Canal on New York City’s trade was its effect on trade on a larger scale.

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At the time, many were worried about the severing of the west from eastern states and how much time was left until the union effectively broke apart. But Robert Fulton, an inventor, confidently states that canals could not only boost the economy greatly, but also be able to unite the seemingly divided regions of America. In his 1807 letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, Fulton writes, “...What stronger bonds of union can be invented than those which enable each individual to transport the produce of his industry 1,200 miles for 60 cents the hundred weight?” (Document 1, Lines 9-10). With the rapid development and construction of railroads and canals, Robert’s argument would later on prove to be correct following the construction of the Erie canal around the mid 1820s, which connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.

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The Erie Canal has a considerably colossal effect on not only enhancing New York but also quickly escalating America's incomes. As chart 2 displays, when they had engineered the Erie Canal they couldn't imagine the magnitude of change this would bring. From 1825 to 1855 the were spending 200,000 dollars on things like repairing the canal, yet they were acquiring 450,000 dollars creating a profit of 250,000 dollars. " Within 15 years of the

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The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 was of the greatest engineering feats in history, at the time. The 363-mile canal allowed trade between New York and the Great Lakes. The economic boost of the Erie Canal was immediately felt by the entire country as someone could transport goods from the Great Lakes to New York in half the time and one-tenth of the cost. This feat saved Americans an unprecedented amount of money as the Erie Canal is still used today, nearly 200 years later. This massive project not only enabled much faster transportation but also attracted an influx of farmers to the area.

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Aside from its symbolic importance, the canal had a meaningful impact on American foreign policy. The completion of the canal allowed the United States to project its power in new ways, making it easier for the country to project its military and economic influence in the Western Hemisphere and beyond (35). The canal came to represent American expansionism and a testament to its capacity to establish global

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The Panama Canal is known to be one of the many world wonders that was created by man. This world wonder unlike the others was created by man and the purpose of the canal was to connect the two oceans the Atlantic and the Pacific. The man purpose they made the canal was to help ships cross the land without having to go around all of South America but this canal caused many problems and even deaths during creation. Although this canal is in Panama the canal was created by Americans who moved to Panama to create the canal after the French who were the first to try but the French failed and the Americans moved in and made the canal after years if working. When the canal was built it was considered one of the biggest American project that would

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As American factories and farms started to produce more goods businessmen and legislators began to create a faster and cheaper way to get goods distributed to consumers. Around 1820, Americans began to build canals and steamboats, railroad, and extend roads linking the Atlantic Coast with new states in the Trans Appalachian west. Canals and Steamboats shrunk the distance of carrying goods from one place to another and could haul the most cargo for transportation. A well-known waterway called the Erie Canal connected the Great Lakes region to the Atlantic Ocean and cost 7 million dollars.

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Because of the rapid settlement of the western land in the 1850s, Congress wanted to enforce a transcontinental railroad to replace America’s current weak transportation system—horse-drawn carriages were still used and soldiers often had to walk. But due to the constant competition between the Northern members and the Southern

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The building of roads, canals and railroads played a large role in the United States during the 1800s. They served the purpose of connecting towns and settlements so that goods could be transported quickly and more efficiently. These goods could be transported fast, cheap and in safe way through the Erie Canal that was built to connect the Great Lakes to New York. Railroads were important during Civil War as well, because it helped in the transportation of goods, supplies and weapons when necessary. These new forms of transportation shaped the United States into the place that it is today.

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It was not exclusively a response to the railroads monopoly, but a phenomenon due to the increasing need to transport goods in a macroeconomically integrated society. Three new means of transport were crucial to undermine the monopoly: the Panama Canal, Inland Waterway Transport and Trucking. At first, the Panama Canal’s construction was promoted by Theodore Roosevelt as a measure for national security, since there was no easy or fast means for the US to go back and forth between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, the Canal played an important role on freight carriage from the East to the West and vice-versa. At the same time, “in view of the availability of easily navigable waterways, waterborne commerce was the primary viable option for transporting freight over significant distances” within the country (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine).

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As the turn of the century was approaching, trade between countries was flourishing thus increasing the need for the new canal. The only way to ship goods from the Atlantic to the Pacific was to sail all the way around Cape Horn, South America which was the home of treacherous waters. Sailing around Cape Horn has never been an easy task due to the constant high tides, stormy weather, unbearable winds, and uneven rocks. Stretching over the past 277 years over twenty nine ships have gone down trying to sail around cape horn each carrying over a hundred or more ship mates and thousand of pounds of goods all lost with the ship. As the need for the canal grew the United States began debating whether or not they should take on the job of digging the canal.

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