What is the main idea of the Erie Canal?
The Erie Canal provided a direct water route from New York City to the Midwest, triggering large-scale commercial and agricultural development—as well as immigration—to the sparsely populated frontiers of western New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and points farther west.
What are 3 important facts about the Erie Canal?
Fast Facts
| JUST THE FACTS | |
|---|---|
| Number of locks, 1825 | 83 |
| Number of locks, present day | 57 |
| Elevation change, Albany to Buffalo | 571 feet |
| Canal dimensions, 1825 Original Erie | 4 ft deep x 40 ft wide; locks 90 ft long |
What was the Erie Canal and what was its purpose where was it?
The Erie Canal was built to create a navigable water route, through northeastern USA, from New York City’s port on the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Erie. It originally stretched 584 kilometres (363 mi) from the Hudson River near Albany to Lake Erie in Buffalo.
How did the Erie Canal impact slavery?
The Erie Canal linked the regions of the U.S. that had abolished slavery by the 1820s, helping their economies. In addition, the people who settled the upper midwest were generally either religious New Englanders or immigrants, neither of which were groups that tended to practice slavery.
Why was the Erie Canal so successful?
It sparked a boom in canal construction. Within a decade of the opening of the Erie Canal, tolls paid by barges had paid back the construction debt. The Erie Canal’s commercial success, coupled with the engineering knowledge gained in its building, led to the construction of other canals across the United States.
Why was the Erie Canal important quizlet?
The canal, considered a marvel of the modern world at the time, allowed western farmers to ship surplus crops to sell in the North and allowed northern manufacturers to ship finished goods to sell in the West.
What is the history of the Erie Canal?
Built between 1817 and 1825, the original Erie Canal traversed 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo. It was the longest artificial waterway and the greatest public works project in North America. The canal put New York on the map as the Empire State—the leader in population, industry, and economic strength.
What was the goal of the Erie Canal quizlet?
What was the goal of the Erie Canal? The goal was to sustain the frontiers.
What was the Erie Canal quizlet?
A canal between the New York cities of Albany and Buffalo, completed in 1825. The canal, considered a marvel of the modern world at the time, allowed western farmers to ship surplus crops to sell in the North and allowed northern manufacturers to ship finished goods to sell in the West.
Did slaves work on the Erie Canal?
Lemmey points out that slavery was not yet abolished in New York during the construction of the Erie Canal, from 1817 to 1825. It ended in the state in 1827. She says that slaves and free blacks living in New York at the time were among those who built the waterway.
How did the Erie Canal impact the economy?
The Erie Canal helped to launch the consumer economy. In addition to providing an economic boost by allowing the transport of goods at one-tenth the previous cost in less than half the previous time, the Erie Canal led to a transformation of the American economy as a whole.
Why was the Erie Canal important?
The completion of the Erie Canal spurred the first great westward movement of American settlers, gave access to the rich land and resources west of the Appalachians and made New York the preeminent commercial city in the United States.
How did the Erie Canal affect life in the United States quizlet?
It opened direct trade between the Great Lakes and New York City. The Great Lakes region grew. It increased trade on the Mississippi. Northerners were able to move west more efficiently and in greater numbers.
Why the Erie Canal was important?
Why was Erie Canal important?
What is one way the Erie Canal was important to the economic growth of the United States?
What is one way the Erie Canal was important to the economic growth of the United States? It allowed people and goods to move between Lake Erie and New York City and the east coast faster and more cheaply.
Why was the Erie Canal so important quizlet?
How much were workers of the Erie Canal paid?
Wages were 50 cents to a dollar a day and the work in those first years was painfully slow. From 1818 to 1819, around three thousand men and 700 horses labored every day to dig the section of the Erie Canal from Utica to the Seneca River.
Who were the workers who built the Erie Canal?
Some laborers were Irish immigrants, but most were U.S.-born. For eight years of wet, heat, and cold, they felled trees and excavated, mostly by hand and animal power, mile after mile. They devised equipment to uproot trees and pull stumps and developed hydraulic cement that hardened under water.
What problem did the Erie Canal solve?
The Erie Canal helped to launch the consumer economy. Farmers could grow wheat in western New York, sell it and have cash to buy furniture and clothing shipped up the canal that they otherwise would have made at home,” Kelly says. “That was the first inklings of the consumer economy.”