The Artificial River Summary

Author and historian, Carol Sheriff, completed the award winning book The Artificial River, which chronicles the construction of the Erie Canal from 1817 to 1862, in 1996. In this book, Sheriff writes in a manner that makes the events, changes, and feelings surrounding the Erie Canal’s construction accessible to the general public. Terms she uses within the work are fully explained, and much of her content is first hand information gathered from ordinary people who lived near the Canal. This book covers a range of issues including reform, religious and workers’ rights, the environment, and the market revolution. Sheriff’s primary aim in this piece is to illustrate how the construction of the Erie Canal affected the peoples’ views on these issues.

One of her goals in writing this book was to “document how people of diverse circumstances and ambitions perceived the swift and profound transformations brought about by the revolution in transportation” (6). She not only discusses the positive changes that occurred in transportation, but also how the process of building the Erie Canal shaped individuals perceptions about their rights as humans, property owners, and members of the local and state economy. One concept that Sheriff discussed in the book was the concept of the “Republican Free Man.” She wrote extensively on how one of the primary issues of this time, according to both herself and the settlers, was that the immigrant canal laborers were not considered “Republican Free Men,” nor given a true voice of their own. I believe that this is one example of how Sheriff truly illustrated the impact of the Canal on the people of New York State through examining their own words and

In Chapter 1 she discusses Jamie, who worked on a part of the Canal and received no personal benefit from his work. She writes that although Jamie was initially pursuing individual wealth, he “retained a belief in the founding principles of the Republic: that the goals of the individuals should be subordinated to the common good, or the commonwealth” (14). This instance in itself is convincing, however, Sheriff goes on to discuss multiple instances where selfishness prevailed and sharp dealings were made to further individual’s own interests and goals, rather than the common good. In one example, a man would not allow a necessary right-of-way easement over his property. This resulted in the devaluation of his neighbor’s property. The reason for this denial was so that the man could buy his neighbors land at a much lower price (96). This demonstrates the caprice and greed that began to infiltrate New York. Although citizens and the Canal Board began to focus on public trust and “moral standards of government” in a later era, it appears that there was initially no true widespread existence of a moral economy, as Sheriff first suggested