The Building of the Eerie Canal; reading check

Which of the following contributed to the success of the Erie Canal?

• 1. The Missouri River shortened the distance the canal would need to span.

• 1. Most of the laborers were formally educated in engineering.

• 1. Elevation changes across the Appalachian Mountains were gradual.

• 1. The distance it spanned was far less than canals already existing in the United States.

Which of the following was a technological achievement that benefited the canal?

• 1. Because most of the labor was mechanized, very few people and animals were involved in the canal’s construction.

• 1. Communication technologies such as telegraph and telephone improved the process of purchasing building materials.

• 1. Engineering advances allowed the canal to be completed without using dangerous explosives.

• 1. The locks constructed in Lockport, New York, were far higher than any previously constructed.

What is one important reason that New York State legislators opposed the canal at first?

• 1. They believed canal projects were inherently unconstitutional.

• 1. They did not want to participate in the national market.

• 1. They worried that the canal would bolster DeWitt Clinton’s political prospects.

• 1. They believed the federal government should build post offices and post roads, not the state legislature.

Which of these was an effect of completion of the Erie Canal?

• 1. Its fees made it more difficult for farmers to ship their crops long distances.

• 1. It led to so much new wooden construction that fires increased, causing upstate New York to be called the “burned-over district.”

• 1. It made New York so prosperous that the westward shift in the geographical center of the U.S. population stopped for a while.

• 1. Within a few years, it carried goods worth double the value of all freight shipped down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

Which city increased its economic stature with the completion of the Erie Canal?

• 1. Montreal

• 1. Philadelphia

• 1. Boston

• 1. New York City