Sources for America’s History: Printed Page 185

8-1  |Building the Economy
J. HILL, Junction of Erie and Northern Canal (c. 1830–1832)

Hamilton’s commercial vision for the new republic flourished in the years after the War of 1812, aided by private and public investments in canals, roads, and bridges. In this scene from the early 1830s, a developing market economy is clearly under way. Canal traffic brought the manufacturing revolution to inland regions, opening markets, and encouraging trade and consumption on a scale previously unknown. These “artificial rivers” literally changed the landscape, transforming Jefferson’s agrarian world into the mill and factory economy Hamilton hoped for.

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Source: Junction of Erie and Northern Canal, engraved by J. Hill, c. 1830–1832 (color litho), American School (19th century) / © Collection of the New-York Historical Society, USA / The Bridgeman Art Library.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Question

    What point of view about the market economy does this lithograph express? Was the artist celebrating or lamenting the changes brought by the canal economy?

  2. Question

    How would you use the evidence from this illustration to discuss specific changes to daily life those living along the canals might have experienced?