The Erie Canal
The ditch that changed America
By Luciano D’Orazio
CS 150 Charles James Fox School
Bronx, NY
New York State Learning
Standards
• Standard 1: History of the United States and New York students
will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and
turning points in the history of the United States and New York.
• Key Idea 3: Study about the major social, political, economic,
cultural, and religious developments in New York State and United
States history involves learning about the important roles and
contributions of individuals and groups.
• Key Idea 4: The skills of historical analysis include the ability to:
explain the significance of historical evidence; weigh the
importance, reliability, and validity of evidence; understand the
concept of multiple causation; understand the importance of
changing and competing interpretations of different historical
developments.
Learning Objectives
• Students will understand the importance of
the Erie Canal in the economic, social and
political development of New York and the
United States.
• Students will complete a differentiated project
based on the content in the presentation as
well as independent research through various
media.
“As yet…we can only crawl along the outer
shell of our country. The interior excels the
part we inhabit in soil, in climate, in
everything.”
Gouverneur Morris
What was the Erie Canal?
• The Erie Canal was a
manmade waterway that
connected Lake Erie and the
Hudson River.
• It ran 363 miles, was 40 feet
wide and 4 feet deep,
although the canal was
often enlarged later.
• New York and the United
States would be changed
forever by the canal.
What was the situation before the
canal?
• Since the end of the Revolutionary War, New York
City nearly doubled in population, reaching 63,000 in
1800.
• New York City was already the United States’ largest
city, surpassing Philadelphia in 1790.
• The city’s port made it an important connection
between the United States and Europe.
• As more people immigrated into the city, New York
would spread north along Manhattan island.
Why build a canal anyway?
• As early as the 1720s, New York politicians have searched
for a way to get at the interior of the United States.
• Merchants in New York wanted a fast, cheap way to move
goods from the Northwest territories (Ohio, Michigan,
Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin) to the Hudson River and out to
Manhattan.
• Crowding in Manhattan and along the Hudson valley
required a way to move potential settlers into the
continent.
• Some New Yorkers, including politician DeWitt Clinton,
thought a canal would help New York grow into the most
powerful state in the United States.
DeWitt Clinton
• Born 1769, died 1828
• Went to Columbia
University to study law.
• Served as secretary to his
uncle, Governor George
Clinton.
• US Senator, 1802-1803
• Mayor of New York City,
1803-1815
• Governor of New York,
1817-1822, 1825-1828
• Federalist Party candidate
for President, 1812
• New York State Canal
Commissioner, 1811-1825
• Regent, University of New
York, 1808-1825
Why is DeWitt Clinton
important?
• DeWitt Clinton was one of the most important
politicians in New York’s history.
• As Mayor of New York City, he promoted public
education, city planning, public sanitation and
help for the poor.
• In 1811, he helped promote the Commissioners’
Plan, a new grid plan for Manhattan that would
lay out the city streets as we know them today.
• As Governor, he saw a canal as vital to the
continuing growth of the city and the state.
“If it be important that the
inhabitants of the same country
should be bound together by a
community of interests…that
agriculture should find a sale
for its commodities;
manufacturers a vent for their
fabrics; and commerce a
market for its commodities; it is
your incumbent duty, to open,
facilitate and improve internal
navigation.”
DeWitt Clinton, in an address to
supporters at the City Hotel, New York
City - 1815
How did the canal get started?
• In 1807, an imprisoned flour
trader named Jesse Hawley
wrote a series of articles
promoting a canal in New York
State connecting Lake Erie to
the Mohawk River.
• The New York State Legislature
appointed a commission in
1808 to explore canal
possibilities. DeWitt Clinton
was appointed commissioner.
• By 1816, Clinton pushed for
laws to begin funding for the
canal project.
• Work began on July 4, 1817.
What were some obstacles to the
canal?
• The Appalachian Mountains were a tough barrier to
overcome.
• The only break in the mountains was in north-central New
York state, along a horizontal line between Albany and
Buffalo.
• The Hudson River was lower in elevation than Lake Erie – a
difference of 600 feet. This required at least 50 locks on
the canal.
• The entire project would cost at least $7 million – almost
half the cost of the entire Louisiana territory purchased in
1803.
• Opponents of the canal began calling the project “Clinton’s
big ditch.”
What were the arguments for and
against the canal?
PRO-CANAL
ANTI-CANAL
• Internal improvements will
help extend our reach into the
American continent.
• The canal would improve the
lives of farmers, merchants
and future settlers.
• The canal would make
transportation faster and
cheaper.
• The canal’s connections will
decrease New York’s reliance
on foreign trade.
• Such a large canal has never
been attempted before.
• The canal is too expensive and
would not be profitable.
• The government should not
fund projects meant for
private businesses.
• The canal would increase New
York’s power at the expense of
the rest of the country.
“Why sir, here is a canal for a few
miles, projected by George
Washington, which if completed,
would render this a fine commercial
city, which has languished for many
years because the small sum of
200,000 dollars necessary to
complete it, cannot be obtained from
the general government, the state
government, or from individuals-and you talk of making a canal 350
miles through the wilderness--it is a
little short of madness to think of it
--Thomas
Jefferson, replying to New
at
this day."
York Assemblyman Joshua Foreman’s
request for federal money for the Erie
Canal project. 1808
“It is rather supposed that they mean to
open a road to the Presidency than a
Canal from the lakes.”
James A. Bayard, US Senator from Delaware,
writing to Caesar Rodney, December 12, 1811
“(This canal is) so visionary and
absurd that no rational man for one
moment could seriously entertain it.”
Martin van Buren, New York politician,
leader of Tammany Hall and bitter enemy of
DeWitt Clinton, circa 1812.
How was the canal built?
• The canal was built between
1817 and 1825.
• By the end of construction,
over 9,000 workers were busy
digging, building locks and
aqueducts, and clearing land.
• Most of the workers were
either new settlers to the area
or Irish immigrants.
• As the canal progressed, more
workers, immigrants and
settlers would fill the towns
that sprung along the canal
route.
Canal Pay Scale
Principal Engineer
$1500 - $2000 per year
Assistant Engineer
$4.00 per day
$ 0.10 - 0.14 per cubic yard
Contractors
excavated*
Laborers
$8.00 - $12.00 per month or
$0.50 per day
*removal of rock paid more,
different pay scale for locks and embankments
Pay Scale for the Canal workers
How much would a laborer make in a year?
How much would a Principal Engineer make in
a day?
What happened when the canal was
finished?
• On October 26, 1825, the
Erie Canal was officially
completed.
• Clinton boarded the Seneca
Chief as it headed down
the canal, down the
Hudson towards New York
Harbor.
• In an elaborate ceremony
known as the “Wedding of
the Waters,” Clinton
poured a keg of water from
Lake Erie into New York
Harbor, symbolizing the
new connection.
What was the final cost of the Erie
Canal?
• The Erie Canal required over 2000 boats, 9000
horses and 8000 workers over eight years.
• The final cost was $7,143,789.
• The canal was paying for itself even before
completion, as tolls were collected for
sections of the canal during construction.
• By the end of toll collecting in 1882, the canal
collected $121,461,871 in funds.
What were some features of the Erie
Canal?
• LOCKS – these devices are designed to help boats
cross high elevations across the canal. In each
lock, a series of doors raise and lower the water
level to allow boats to cross. There are 83 locks on
the canal.
• AQUEDUCTS – these “water bridges” date from
Roman times. They were used to extend the canal
across large rivers and deep canyons. There are
numerous aqueducts on the canal.
These are two examples
of locks at the town of
Lockport.
How do you think they
were used to move
boats over high areas?
These are pictures of the
Schoharie Aqueduct
(left) and the Rexford
Aqueduct (below).
What kinds of
structures does
each aqueduct
have in
common?
What were the effects of the
canal?
• The canal made transportation of goods and
people faster and cheaper.
• Before the canal, the trip from Buffalo to New
York City took three weeks. With the canal,
that same trip would take nine days.
• Before the canal, the cost of shipping a ton of
wheat was $100. With the canal, that same
ton of wheat would cost less than $6 to ship
from Buffalo to New York City.
Effects, continued
• The canal brought thousands of new settlers into
western New York. Today, 80% of New York’s
population lives within 25 miles of the canal route.
• The canal also helped new settlers enter the
midwestern United States. The population of the west
will explode in the decades after the canal completion.
• The canal made New York State a major manufacturing
center thanks to the many factory towns that grew
along the canal route, such as Buffalo and Rochester.
• Finally, the canal would make New York City the
greatest commercial and financial center in America.
“(New Yorkers) have built the longest canal, in the least
time, with the least experience, for the least money, and
for the greatest public benefit.”
William Stone
“The canal is the greatest thing this country has done;
it’s the greatest thing it will ever do.”
Walter D. Edmonds,
1929
Assignment/Projects
• Write a journal entry as a worker on the Erie Canal,
describing your experiences working on the canal.
• Create a diorama of a piece of the Erie Canal, such as a lock
or an aqueduct.
• Write a biography of one of the important people involved
in the canal’s development.
• You are a speechwriter for DeWitt Clinton. Write a speech
the governor will give to the New York State Legislature,
persuading the lawmakers to approve funds for the Erie
Canal.
• Pretend you are a state assemblyman opposed to the canal.
Write a speech persuading your fellow lawmakers that the
canal is a bad idea.