Why Did Clinton Build The Erie Canal

Erie Canal In the early 1800s, Clinton was governor of New York twice. Clinton was a very big supporter for the construction of the Erie Canal. However, his support didn’t matter if it was just him wanting the Canal to become something. The time required to build the canal would be at least 8 years and cost to make it happen would be at least 7 million dollars. A lot of people criticized and made a joke of Clinton for this. Before the Erie Canal, there was basically no east-west trade. When roads were wet you could barely use them because when they were dry they were little to nothing. To continue, if you couldn’t use the road to trade goods you would trade by using the train. The costs of that were expensive: $32 a ton per 100 miles, to be exact. Before, when farmers had to deliver their goods by water, it took them forever to get to their destination because they had to go around everything. However, the Erie Canal would change all of that. It provided a link between the interior of the country and the markets of …show more content…
This obviously put the canal on hold and made it a longer of a wait to get started on it. After the way, New York’s neighboring states hoped it would stay this way because it benefited them. It increased the surrounding states’ opportunities and they stole whatever trade New York would have got. Furthering on, Dewitt Clinton issued a threat. He was put out of politics in 1815, and ever since then he was looking for a way to recuperate his political stability. The Erie Canal was a way in for him. Clinton revolved around Erie. On July 4, 1817 the canal was officially being started. Construction was completed in October of 1825. It wasn’t until November 4, 1825 that it was officially opened. Dewitt Clinton poured the first 5 gallons of water into Lake Erie. There were plenty of canals, but Lake Erie is what started it