The Artificial River: The Paradox of Progress

The Artificial River: The Paradox of Progress

Brendan Kepes

AP U. S. History Section 3

Mr. Gordinier

January 9th, 2017

        The Erie Canal was the United State’s first canal longer than two miles long. At 363 miles, it was an astounding feat, that made trade much more accessible; a continuous path of water from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Erie. This impressive man-made river was instilled to provide easy trade to the west and improve the quality of life for those New York residents who inhabited the land influenced by the canal. However, with great accomplishments, there are always great sacrifices and setbacks. With every problem solved, new ones appear and make themselves manifest. In Carol Sheriff’s The Artificial River, the great accomplishments made possible by the Erie Canal are seen compared with the problems these advances cause. A significant example of this is how the Erie Canal created an immoral and inhumane economy and culture by affecting the geography and environment of the area through the canal’s creation. This new adaptation of the geography and environment of the canal region replaces problems such as distance from trade markets and replaces them with other concerns like poor working conditions and unfair wages in the canal region. With great advances come equal setbacks and, thus, the “paradox of progress” appears.

        The Erie Canal created an immoral and inhumane environment from the start. Dewitt Clinton, New York’s governor for the duration of the canal’s construction and completion, pushed for the canal as an implement that would greatly connect the country and allow for trade to improve greatly, enabling the U. S. economy to prosper, and changing New York’s geography forever. With the economy being a concern, as the country was in a depression from President Jefferson’s trade embargos, the canal was seen as appropriate to pursue; Clinton received approval from the legislature in 1817. However, even with the start of construction of the canal, negative effects made themselves manifest quickly. Immigrants, desperate for work as a result of the economic depression, quickly filled in as laborers in the construction of the canal. These immigrants were either housed by kind occupants of the area where the canal was currently being constructed, or resided in quickly, cheaply built “shanty houses’ where conditions were very poor. These immigrants created problems for the inhabitants of the region; many of them were excessive drinkers- a result of them being in a new country, away from parental supervision for the first time. Their loud, drunk behavior greatly irritated the inhabitants surrounding them. Additionally, these immigrant workers were also offering to work for very cheap, stealing job opportunities from long-time citizens of the area. This created a hatred of inhabitants toward the immigrant workers, and caused the existing community to suffer from a loss of jobs. With immigrant workers stealing jobs from residents and creating problems in the area with their drunkenness and ill behavior, the economy declined; and the environment of the area surrounding the canal was already suffering- even before its completion

These problems did not get any better with the canal’s completion. For the community, the bright side of the immigrant workers was that they would leave town after their jobs on the canal in that area were finished. However, once the canal was completed, new problems arose. Boat-workers, those who helped out with cheap labor on canal vessels, became a more prominent job opportunity. This lead to many immigrants or those in poverty residing in these communities near the canal in search of small jobs from people in the growing stream of canal traffic. These workers too, were often drunkards, and stole jobs from those already residing in the community: “the Canal had become a haven for vice and immorality; the towpaths attracted workers who drank, swore, whored, and gambled. And unlike canal-diggers, who moved on, boat workers remained” (Sheriff 138). Where one of Clinton’s main objectives for the canal was to improve the life of those affected by it, the communities suffered from these immoral boat workers who lowered the morals of the community.