The Perils Of Progress, By Carol Sheriff

Introduction The text by Carol Sheriff encircles on Erie Canal during the prewar period in a much different way than other scholars on the subject. Erie Canal is located in New York that at first had a length of approximately 584 kilometers or 363 miles, that is, from Albany in New York to Buffalo at Lake Erie. It was built to aid transportation from New York to the Great Lakes. Its construction was between 1817 and 1825. It was such an economic spurring platform for New York. In her book, Sheriff focuses primarily on the human perspective of the development and advancement of the canal as a means of transportation in New York. In her study, Sheriff uses the Canal region as a base to look at the relationships amid some of the
Most of the citizens made a living out of the canal. The challenge was when routes were shifted to new locations by the state. Some did miss such shifting. The general welfare of the community was also in question, although the business classes did claim they were contributing to such. The last chapter records the risks of having the canal, “Perils of progress.” The challenges were enormous even if progress realized was measurable. Most of the workers in the canal were children and were exploited. The wages were extremely low while the working conditions were devastating. Some workers were even seen as a threat to the elite class. There was also a religious revivalist zeal. The revivalist focused on converting the s sisters and brothers from uncouth behavior. Their aim was to align the workers in the region into the typical religious society, and some workers did have great hopes of improving their status in the fluid class structure. Some of the revivalists did put blame on the business class for the poor
The insightful heart of her book is her elucidations of what she calls “the culture of progress.” With the presentation of this culture of progress, she goes beyond the tired arguments over market revolution. She starts surveying the early civilization of capitalism. Contrary to the actions of other historians, in the school of moral economy, the professor does not elaborate away individuals’ market activity. In its place, she depicts how involvement in markets at long distances was only one part of a consistent word opinion that focused on a conviction in the progress of