The Erie Canal and Industrialization

In class we learned about the beginnings of industrialization in America. The Erie Canal helped greatly with this industrial development. The Erie Canal enabled the transport of commodities and people from the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions with New York City and the Atlantic coastal trade. This canal formed a more efficient method of transportation and in doing so, drove down the cost of hauling goods. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote that “the water of this canal must be the most fertilizing of all fluids; for it causes towns – with their masses of brick and stone, their churches and theatres, their business and hubbub, their luxury and refinement, their gay dames and polished citizens – to spring up…” It is interesting to know that the Erie Canal had such a large impact on industrialization in the northern regions of America.

However, the Erie Canal was not completely beneficial to everyone. Even though industry was rising and expanding with the result of merchants becoming wealthier, this produced a wider gap between the rich and the poor. According to Hawthorne, there was a lot of diversity along the banks of the Erie Canal. He mentions that “on the verge of the canal, might be seen a log-cottage, and a sallow-faced woman at the window. Lean and aguish, she looked like poverty personified, half clothed, half fed, and dwelling in a desert, while a tide of wealth was sweeping by her door.” The Erie Canal enabled the expansion of transportation and industrialization which created more distinction between the social classes, and as a result, produced class consciousness.