Erie Canal

Examples of Erie Canal in the following topics:

• Transportation: Roads, Canals, and Railroads

  • Among the most important of these canals was the Erie Canal.
  • The Erie Canal made an immense contribution to the wealth and importance of New York City, which became the chief U.S. port, and it fostered a population surge in western New York State.
  • The success of the Erie Canal led to a proliferation of smaller canal routes in the region.
  • Most of the canal work was done by Irish immigrants who had previously worked on the Erie Canal.
  • This is an 1832 profile of the Erie Canal, connecting New York City to the Western Interior of the U.S.

• A Market Society

  • Construction of the Erie Canal connected western agricultural markets to the manufacturing centers of the Northeast, and the development of steamboats and railroads allowed for much greater mobility between markets.

• Charles Finney and the Burned-Over District

  • At the time, Rochester was a boomtown because the Erie Canal had brought a lively shipping business.
  • The "Burned-Over District" of upstate New York, covering an area from approximately Buffalo to the eastern shores of Lake Erie.

• The Rise of the West

  • Steamboat technology and the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 gave these farmers access to eastern markets.
  • The railroad boom that began in the 1830s soon replaced canals as the primary mode of transportation and further opened up the West.

• The Market Revolution

  • Federal and local governments, as well as private individuals, invested in roads, canals, and railroads.
  • The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal was a tremendous engineering feat and opened the West for trade with markets on the east coast.
  • Turnpikes, canals, and rail lines drastically changed America's landscape, beginning in the 1800s.

• The Growth of Cities

  • With the development of steamboats and canal routes, waterborne shipments quickly became more popular than shipment over land.
  • The opening of the Erie Canal greatly increased New York City's importance, connecting the city to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior.

• The Madison Presidency

  • However, in his last act before leaving office, Madison vetoed the Bonus Bill of 1817, which would have financed more internal improvements, including roads, bridges, and canals.
  • Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeats British Navy at the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

• The War in the North

  • This early victory encouraged American Indian resistance, and large numbers moved to help the British at Amherstburg (near the western end of Lake Erie).
  • In 1813, American Captain Oliver Hazard Perry and his naval force won control of Lake Erie in the Battle of Lake Erie, cutting off British and American Indian forces in the west from their supply base.
  • Oliver Hazard Perry's message to William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie began with what would become one of the most famous sentences in American military history: "We have met the enemy and they are ours."

• The British Strategy

  • In 1813, the Americans won control of Lake Erie in the Battle of Lake Erie and cut off British and Native American forces in the west from their supply base.

• French-British Rivalry in the Ohio Country

  • The Ohio Country (sometimes called the Ohio Territory or Ohio Valley by the French) was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie.
  • Around 1660, during a conflict known as the Beaver Wars, the Iroquois seized control of the Ohio Country, driving out the Shawnee and conquering and absorbing the Erie tribe.