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.

What workers built the Erie Canal?

To say that the Irish built the Erie Canal is an exaggeration, since there were British and Germans who worked alongside them, but to say that they were the backbone of the Erie Canal is entirely fair, with over 3,000 Irish immigrants hired on to dig trenches, four feet deep, seven feet wide. and 363 miles long.

How did the Erie Canal help slaves?

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.

Was the Erie Canal used to transport slaves?

The Erie Canal became part of the Underground Railroad, which was a series of safe places for fugitive slaves seeking freedom from oppression. Once fugitive slaves made it to Buffalo, they hoped for a better life. And like immigrants from other ethnic groups, the Erie Canal provided jobs for fugitive slaves.

How did canals impact slavery?

Since these waterways were a faster mode of transportation as opposed to wagons and turnpike roads, it would have been a great means of escape for slaves searching for freedom in the north.

200 years on the Erie Canal

What did the Erie Canal do?

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.

What did the Erie Canal accomplish?

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.

How many men worked on the Erie Canal project?

Instead, the thickly forested land was cleared and the 40-foot wide canal was dug and the locks were constructed by the raw manpower of an estimated 50,000 laborers, including a large contingent of recently arrived Irish immigrants.

How long did they remain working on the Erie Canal?

Construction began on July 4, 1817, at Rome, New York. The first 15 miles (24 km), from Rome to Utica, opened in 1819. At that rate, the canal would not be finished for 30 years.

Is the Erie Canal still used today?

Nearly 200 years old and still going strong.

What were two positive effects of the Erie Canal?

The Erie Canal was then proposed and created as an efficient transportation lane, lowering the cost of shipping and increasing trade, spreading machinery and manufactured goods, making the United States more economically independent and establishing some of the country's most prominent cities.

How did slaves travel in the Underground Railroad?

Most often they traveled by land on foot, horse, or wagon under the protection of darkness. Drivers concealed self-liberators in false compartments built into their wagons, or hid them under loads of produce. Sometimes, fleeing slaves traveled by train.

What impact did the Erie Canal have on New York City?

The canal proved it's value from the start becuase the route linked the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes, opening the western part of the state and the Midwest to settlement, creating new markets for goods and bringing unimagined prosperity to New York City.

How many Irish immigrants died building the Erie Canal?

While there are no official records of immigrant deaths, somewhere between 8,000 and 30,000 are believed to have perished in the building of the New Basin Canal, many of whom are buried in unmarked graves in the levee and roadway fill beside the canal.

Which immigrant group helped build the Erie Canal?

The project engineers and contractors had little experience building canals, so this massive project served as the nation's first practical school of civil engineering. Some laborers were Irish immigrants, but most were U.S.-born.

How long did it take to dig the Erie Canal?

The canal was completed in only 8 years at a cost of $7,000,000. When completed on October 26, 1825, DeWitt Clinton (by then Governor of New York) boarded a vessel, the Seneca Chief, in Buffalo and headed to New York City.

Why is Erie Canal empty?

The Erie Canal is drained every year to allow repairs and maintenance over the winter.

Why was the Erie Canal controversial?

Within New York itself, the canal became a heated point of debate between the major political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. Later canal issues, such as the act to enlarge the waterway in 1835, divided the New York government against itself.

Why was the Erie Canal called Clinton's Ditch?

On July 4, 1817, construction began in Rome, NY, on the Erie Canal. A mere four-feet-deep and forty-feet-wide, the waterway was nicknamed "Clinton's Big Ditch" after Governor DeWitt Clinton, who pursued the goal of connecting Buffalo's Lake Erie with the Hudson River without any support from the federal government.

How long did it take to process one pound of cotton?

Whitney built a machine that moved stiff, brushlike teeth though the raw cotton. To his delight, the teeth removed a very high percentage of the nettlesome seeds. Up to this point, it took up to 10 hours to produce a pound of cotton, with very little profit.

How did the Erie Canal create jobs?

People and products moved West, creating a market for produce in the Midwest. Populations boomed. People using the canal needed supplies for their trip such as food, places to stay, and equipment which created businesses as well as jobs along the canal route.

What are 3 important facts about the Erie Canal?

Interesting Facts about the Erie Canal

The original canal included 83 locks and rose 583 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Today, the canal has 36 locks. There was a towpath along the side of the canal where horses or mules would tow the boat along the canal. The horse drivers were called "hoggees."

How did the Erie Canal affect Native Americans?

The canal transformed the lives of Native Americans in the state of New York. Its construction occurred during a period of intense “Indian removal” policies, and the canal itself ran through territory traditionally occupied by the Haudenosaunee (better known as the Iroquois Confederacy), forcing many of them to move.

What was the most important thing about the Erie Canal?

The Erie Canal played a major part in commerce in the history of the United States. Its creation helped to make New York City the chief port in the United States and opened the western part of the state and other western territories to increased settlement and trade.

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