The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862 - Hardcover

Sheriff, Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809027534 ISBN 13: 9780809027538

Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub, 1996

Synopsis

Discusses the social and cultural effects of the construction of the Erie Canal on the lives of the people of the time, examining its impact on transportation, changing work environments and careers, commerce, and values and a way of life.

About this title

Review:

The United States was a new republic in 1817. The generation of its original revolutionaries was fast dying; a second war with Great Britain had recently been settled; and expansionism was the mood of the day. The "children of the founders," as Carol Sheriff calls this first 19th-century American generation, sought to make its mark with engineering projects that would further national growth and prove to Europe that the new nation "played a leading role in God's plan to improve the earthly world." It did so in grand style with the Erie Canal, a huge waterway that linked Atlantic seaports with the Great Lakes. Sheriff's vigorous account of the canal's conception and building makes for an epic story and fascinating reading.

From the Back Cover:

The story of the Erie Canal is the story of industrial and economic progress between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Carol Sheriff uses innovative archival research to document the varied responses of ordinary people to this major environmental, social, and cultural transformation in the early life of our Republic.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0809027534
• ISBN 13: 9780809027538
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 251