Canal Construction Quotes
See {588984} for more on the Canal.
The French had a plan to construct a canal across Panama.
It (the proposal to build the Erie Canal) is a splendid project and may be executed a century hence.
Jefferson was usually far in advance of most men in his understanding of science and technology. However, he missed the boat literally and figuratively on this project. He did not think that the technology and engineering of the day were sufficient to complete such a huge a complicated project. His experience in the South was that large projects would require large numbers of slaves who had to do highly technical work that was also very challenging physically. The great problem was that the New York area was filled with huge, deep rooted trees. The canal would have to wind around the giant trees and still be navigable. This was a case where Jefferson’s Southern insularity hampered him. He did not count on two things: First was the engineering technology of New York where there were very few slaves and labor saving technology was valued and well developed. New York engineers had huge horse powered machines that could remove the stumps of the largest trees in less than an hour. The Erie Canal would not go around the large trees but straight through the forest shortening the canal digging substantially. Second, he did not realize what free Irish labor was capable of in terms of productivity and mixing brain and brawn. Although he rejected the idea, De Witt Clinton convinced the NY State legislature of the feasibility and the legislature appropriated the then enormous sum of $7 million. The Erie Canal was the most important development project in the nation until the railroad. New York became the richest and largest state as a result and New York City went from a medium sized city to the largest city and the largest port in the country.
This quote is interesting because it itemizes some of the things that Jefferson clearly felt was beyond the constitutional powers of the Federal government. Yet all of these things were done by the Federal government after Jefferson passed away. The Corps of Engineers commonly builds and /or maintain rivers and canals, the military does some of its own manufacturing even today but far less than in the first half of the 20th century when much of the munitions were made in government factories. The federal government has and does maintain special farms. Some opponents of big government point to this quotation to illustrate how we have deviated from the concepts of the Founding Fathers.
It was on time and on budget. It is hard to imagine that we could complete a project this large today. It would take more than 8 years to do the studies and get the permits and fight off the lawsuits. However, the engineering feat for the up and coming young country was as Clinton said, “unparalleled in the experience of mankind.” America had already exceeded the Ancient Egyptians, the Europeans, the Chinese. The economic development for the young nation was enormous—as big as the digital revolution almost two centuries later.
