Erie Canal Research Paper

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

Railroads were faster and cheaper than canals to construct, and they did not freeze over in the winter. Steamboats played a vital role in the United States economy as well. They stimulated the agricultural economy of the west by providing better access to markets at a lower cost. Farmers quickly bought land near navigable rivers, because they could ship their products out to other countries. Due to the foreign trade it helped strengthen the trade relationship between New England and the Northwest. The transportation development had many positive economic changes in the United States.

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.

First, the building of railroads out west played a huge part in the successful expansion of our country and the fulfillment of American dreams. Priot to the development of a more efficient railroad system, the movement of people and freight were

One of the most important goals of transportations in the 1800s was the advancement of industrial growth. Henry Clay, a senator for Kentucky had an economic plan called the American System, with plans for a national bank, improved tariffs, and most importantly, a canal system. The canal system was quickly dominated by railroad, however the canals paid for themselves quite quickly. This was due to the canal's ability to connect the midwest and east coast and cut costs for transporting goods across the US. Steamboats not only allowed for the mass transport of goods on the canals, but they also for human transport, as they could travel from Albany to NYC in around thirty-two hours. As rivers and canals became the commonplace and most efficient way to transport goods cities along the rivers prospered and grew in population and power. Cincinnati for example had its population quadruple in size from 10,000 to 40,000 from 1820-1840 and Louisville's population grew from 10,000 to 60,000 from 1830-1850. Eventually though, canals were made obsolete by development of railroads.

In Document 1A, it explains that the Erie Canal was a canal built in 1825, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Erie. It caused a huge increase in the industry along the Hudson River and made the economy of New York more important than ever. As stated in Document 1B, New York City became the busiest port in America. As stated in Document

With the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, it boosted the US economy, opened rich farmland to people, and reduced shipping and transportation time. Although the railroad was a large investment for the US it made up for

In the early 19th century the transportation of goods between the east and west was expensive and time consuming. The normal way of transportation before the canal, was by horse drawn carriages. Then the bold idea of the Erie Canal was proposed to ease the tiring commute. The Erie canal was intentionally built to open the country west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers. The canal would also provide a safe, cheaper way for produce to be carried to various markets. The canal then became the fastest way

Actually, to blame the entire U.S. as a whole would be completely unfair. The entire Erie Canal project brought great prosper to many areas in the United States that helped the nation as a whole prosper. Mr. Woodcock goes on to describe the immense economic advancement that astonishes him. Towns, hotels, and accommodations were being built in short time, all over the route. But, he describes these people involved in this creation as “mad” by selling promises that didn 't even exist at the time. Sheer confidence in the prosperity of the area is what made it grow. Where there was no money, or actual income – where it needed to be – there was a grand system in place that comes down to the core of what American Society has founded itself upon and survives until this day, “Credit.”

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

There are two disadvantages of Erie Canal. First, with the sharp increasing of the population, more and more workers assembled in factories of eastern area, but the cities could not provide enough resources for those low-wage workers, like the accommodation. Besides, over crowding led to the emergence and spread of some kinds of disease, for instance, the cholera. Another disadvantage is the increase of crime in many cities, especially in New York. Because the lack of police, the occurrence of crimes became hard to control. Moreover, although Cumberland road was the main road to connect Potomac and Ohio, and for people to move to west coast, it still had a disadvantage. Cumberland road was not economical for people to deliver vast crops and goods so that most factories preferred using water shipping. Both two developments had brought negative effects to United States. The construction of canals and roads in the western and northern territory accelerated the development of western and northern cities, but at the same time, south was isolated from other areas. Because of the improved transportation in north, the eastern manufactory could get materials from west and north instead of south; afterwards, the differences of economic development between north and south became the one of the cause of Civil

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 canal and railroad systems, which grew up in the North, facilitated a much larger volume of trade and manufacturing while reducing costs a great deal. Great cities sprang up throughout the North and Northwest, bolstered by the improvement in transportation.