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Chronological Reasoning and Causation

Why ship goods on a canal?

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About this Activity

  1. Load Ledger chart, "Prices of Freight between Albany and New-York," Albany, April 1823 in Main Image Viewer
  2. Load Ledger entries for shipping freight between Albany and New York City, 1825 in Main Image Viewer
  3. Load Ledger entries for shipping freight between Albany and New York City, 1825 in Main Image Viewer
  4. Load Ledger entries for shipping freight between Albany and New York City, 1825 in Main Image Viewer
  5. Load Letter from J.H. Green, for Lyman Root, Albany, to Mr. Allen Brown, July 6, 1839 in Main Image Viewer
  6. Load Letter from J.H. Green, for Lyman Root, Albany, to Mr. Allen Brown, August 26, 1839 in Main Image Viewer
  7. Load Letter from Arthur H. Root, Albany, to Mr. Allen Brown, New York, October 22, 1839 in Main Image Viewer
  8. Load Letter from J.H. Green, for Lyman Root, Albany to Mr. Allen Brown, March 6, 1840 in Main Image Viewer
  9. Load Letter from J.H. Green, for Lyman Root, Albany, to Mr. Allen Brown, April 30, 1840 in Main Image Viewer
  10. Load Broadside advertising the Black River and New York Line of canal boats, 1861 in Main Image Viewer
  11. Load Canal Boats on the North River, New York from Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, 1854 in Main Image Viewer
  12. Load Photograph of hay being loaded from a bridge onto a canal boat at Auriesville, c. 1905 in Main Image Viewer

Suggested Teaching Instructions

 

Driven by political and economic motives, the United States expanded its physical boundaries to the Pacific Ocean between 1800 and 1860. This settlement displaced Native Americans as the frontier was pushed westward. Westward expansion provided opportunities for some groups while harming others. 

Students will examine the Erie Canal as a gateway to westward expansion that resulted in economic growth for New York State, economic opportunities for Irish immigrants working on its construction, and its use by religious groups, such as the Mormons, to move westward.

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