Question

The Erie Canal was significant because it

• A. Was the first federally funded internal improvement from Henry Clay's American System.
• B. Provided an alternative to railroads as a travel system in the early 1800s.
• C. Joined the farming of the West to the manufacturing urban areas of the Northeast. especially New York.
• D. Increased the focus on subsistence farming in both the Northeast and the West.
• E. Made for cheaper and quicker transportation of Southern cotton to Northeastern mills.

Answer 1

The correct option is A Was the first federally funded internal improvement from Henry Clay's American System.

The Erie Canal was first opened in 1825. It was significant because it connected Lake Erie and the Great Lakes system to the Hudson River, and thereby gave the western states direct access to the Atlantic Ocean without shipping goods downstream on the Mississippi River to New Orleans.