How did you get involved with American History and specifically the Erie Canal?
My father, a newspaperman, got me interested in history when I was very young. I became a history professor and wrote a book that treated the period of American History when the Erie Canal was built.
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What made the Erie Canal so revolutionary?
The Erie Canal opened up western New York state and northeast Ohio to cheap imports, and also enabled them get their own agricultural produce to markets all over the world. The Canal brought this produce to the City of New York, facilitating its growth into a port sending and receiving ships to and from all over the world.
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How did the American people view the Erie Canal when it was first being built?
Digging the canal was controversial. President Madison vetoed a bill that would have provided federal money to help construct it, so it wound up being built by the state government of New York. Some New Yorkers realized how valuable and important it would be, others feared it would be so expensive that taxes would rise. In fact the Canal paid for itself within a few years by charging tolls.
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Do you think the workers realized the magnitude of the project they were working on?
The workers who created the canal may not have realized all the benefits it would bring (especially the benefits
to people in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois), but they would have been glad for a well-paying job and impressed by the machinery they saw being used to accomplish it. By the time the Canal was finished, its benefits were obvious to all the people in New York state, and there was a huge celebration for its completion.
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Do you think the Erie Canal helped to inspire the idea of Manifest Destiny?
Because it helped people move west, the Erie Canal did help the cause of "Manifest Destiny." However "Manifest Destiny" was also popular with Southerners who hoped to expand slavery westward, so westward expansion was not entirely linked to the Erie Canal.
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To what extent did the Erie Canal influence the creation of other canals in the United States, such as the Wabash Canal in Indiana?
The Erie Canal encouraged other canals to be created all over the United States. Pennsylvania in particular tried to imitate the Erie Canal, but the Appalachian Mountains proved much more difficult to cross in that state, so its canals were not so successful.
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What do you believe to be the most important lasting effect of the Erie Canal?
By encouraging the transportation of commodities, the Erie Canal facilitated commerce and economic specialization. This improved the standard of living of people along its route. The growth of commerce provided women with opportunities to work outside the home. No accident that the first Women's Rights Convention in human history took place in 1848 at Seneca Falls, NY, along the Erie Canal.
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How would America be different without the Erie Canal?
The effects of the Erie made New York City the largest port in the U.S. for a century and a half. By now, however, Los Angeles has become the largest.
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Is there other information you would like to add about the Erie Canal?
The cities in western New York state along the Erie ?Canal grew rapidly in the years soon after it was built. Like Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, etc.
My father, a newspaperman, got me interested in history when I was very young. I became a history professor and wrote a book that treated the period of American History when the Erie Canal was built.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
What made the Erie Canal so revolutionary?
The Erie Canal opened up western New York state and northeast Ohio to cheap imports, and also enabled them get their own agricultural produce to markets all over the world. The Canal brought this produce to the City of New York, facilitating its growth into a port sending and receiving ships to and from all over the world.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
How did the American people view the Erie Canal when it was first being built?
Digging the canal was controversial. President Madison vetoed a bill that would have provided federal money to help construct it, so it wound up being built by the state government of New York. Some New Yorkers realized how valuable and important it would be, others feared it would be so expensive that taxes would rise. In fact the Canal paid for itself within a few years by charging tolls.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you think the workers realized the magnitude of the project they were working on?
The workers who created the canal may not have realized all the benefits it would bring (especially the benefits
to people in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois), but they would have been glad for a well-paying job and impressed by the machinery they saw being used to accomplish it. By the time the Canal was finished, its benefits were obvious to all the people in New York state, and there was a huge celebration for its completion.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you think the Erie Canal helped to inspire the idea of Manifest Destiny?
Because it helped people move west, the Erie Canal did help the cause of "Manifest Destiny." However "Manifest Destiny" was also popular with Southerners who hoped to expand slavery westward, so westward expansion was not entirely linked to the Erie Canal.
__________________________________________________________________________________
To what extent did the Erie Canal influence the creation of other canals in the United States, such as the Wabash Canal in Indiana?
The Erie Canal encouraged other canals to be created all over the United States. Pennsylvania in particular tried to imitate the Erie Canal, but the Appalachian Mountains proved much more difficult to cross in that state, so its canals were not so successful.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
What do you believe to be the most important lasting effect of the Erie Canal?
By encouraging the transportation of commodities, the Erie Canal facilitated commerce and economic specialization. This improved the standard of living of people along its route. The growth of commerce provided women with opportunities to work outside the home. No accident that the first Women's Rights Convention in human history took place in 1848 at Seneca Falls, NY, along the Erie Canal.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
How would America be different without the Erie Canal?
The effects of the Erie made New York City the largest port in the U.S. for a century and a half. By now, however, Los Angeles has become the largest.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Is there other information you would like to add about the Erie Canal?
The cities in western New York state along the Erie ?Canal grew rapidly in the years soon after it was built. Like Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, etc.