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1 6 0 CHAPTER 1O DIVERSIFYING SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

endre mass of mind there collected. I became so weak and powerless that I found it necessary to sit down. Soon after I left and went into the woods, and there I strove to rally and man up my courage. I tried to philosophize in regard to these wonderful exhibitions, resolving them into mere sympathetic excitement-a kind of religious enthusiasm, inspired by sonp and eloquent harangues. My pride was wounded, for I had supposed that my mental and physical strength and vigor could most successfully resist these influences.

AIter some time I returned to the scene of excitement, the waves of which, if possible, had risen still higher. The same awfulness of feeling came over me. I stepped up on to a log where I could have a better view of the surging sea of humanity.The scene that then presented itself to my mind was indescribable. At one time I saw at least five hundred swept down in a moment, as if a battery of a thousand guns had been opened upon them, and then, immediately followed shrieks and shouts that rent the very heavens. My hair rose up on my head, my whole frame trembled, the blood ran cold in my vejru, and I fled for the woods a second rime, and wished I had stayed at home. While I remained here my feelings became intense and insupportable. A sense of suffocation and blindness seemed to come over me, and I thought I was going to die. . . .In this state I wandered about from place to place, in and around the encampment. At times it seemed as if all the sins I had ever committed in my life were vividly brought up in array before my terrified imagination, and under their pressure I felt that I must die if I did not get relief. Then it was that I saw clearly through the thin vail of (Jniversalism,

and this refuge of lies was swept away by the Spirit of God. Then fell the scales from my qin-blinded eyes, and I realized, in all its force and power, the awful truth, that if I died in my sins I was a lost man forever. . . .

As soon as day broke I went to the woods to pray, and no sooner had my knees touched the ground than I cried aloud for mercy and salvation and fell prostrate. My cries were so loud that they attracted the attention of the neighbors, many of whom gathered around me. Among the number was. a German from Switzerland, who had experienced religion. He, understanding fully, my condition, had me carried to his house and laid on a bed. The old Dutch saint directed me to look right away to the Savior. He then kneeled at the bedside and prayed for my salvation most fervendy, in Dutch and broken English. He then rose and sung in the same nurlner, and continued singing and praying alternately till nine o'clock, when suddeoly -y load was gone, my guilt removed, and presendy the direct witness from heaven shone full upon my soul. . . .

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P r o m o t i n g t h e E r i e C a n a l ( 1 8 1 8 )

As the United States expanded westward, demands for internal improuements beume an increasingly important issue. Congress passeil a bill to fund road construction after the War of 1812, but President James Madison uetoed it, arguing that a constitutiondl

72 PROMOTING THE ERIE CANAL (1818)

amendffient would be necessary for such legislation. As a result, intemal improuements beume the prerogatiue of the indfuidual states.The most important of these transporta- tiongrojects wa NewYorh's Erie Canal. Championed by Couernor De Witt Clinton, the waterwoy tt)ds to connect the Great l-ahes with the Atlantic W *oy of the Mohawh Riuu system. By 1825, thecanal opened and u)as an immediate suuess. Chaies G. Haines was one of the canal's leading proponents. A natiue of New Hampshire, the young law stuilent had just begun to serue as pivate seoetary to Governor Clinton when he unote the following excupL

Q u e s t i o n s t o C o n s i d e r

1. What does Charles Haines believe the Erie Canal can do for the nation?

2. What advantages will the canal bring to the Great Lakes region and upstate NewYork?

3. According to Haines, in what ways will NewYork City will be affected?

4. How accurate is Haines in assessing the positive impact of the canal on NewYork?

. . .The people of this state early perceived the benefits of InternalTrade, and previous to the late war with England, the Grand Canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie was contemplated. Such an undertaking was alone suitable to a state of peace. It was accordingly postponed to that period when more favor- able auspices should await its prosecution.That period arrived, when De Witt Clinton was unanimously called to the chief magistracy of the state.The eyes of the people were fixed upon him, with an expectation that the Great West- ern Canal would be vigorously prosecuted to its final completion. The work will be prosecuted and triumphantly finished. . . .

The length of the canal, from the Hudson to the Lakes, is calculated at three hundred and ffty-three miles, according to the report of the commis- sioners appointed by the New-York Legislature, on the 17th April, 1816. They observed, that in their opinion, "the dimensions of the'Western or Erie Canal and Locks, should be as follows, viz.:-width on the water sudace, forty feet; at the bottom, rwenry-eight feet, and depth of water, four feet; the length of a lock ninery feet, and its width, rwelve feet in the clear.Vessels car-

rying one hundred tons may navigate a canal of this size-and all the lumber produced in the country and required for the market, may be transported upon it."The aggregate rise and fall is in feet 661.35, and the elevation of Lake Erie above the Hudson. is calculated to be in feet 564 85.-The num- ber of locks will be sevenry-seven. The canal has been divided into three great sections. The western section reaches from Lake Erie to Seneca River; the middle section leads &om Seneca River to Rome. and the eastern, from Rome to Hudson.. . .

Chrles G. Haines, Corciduatiorc or thc Grcat W6tffi Canal,fom the Hudsor to lake Eie @rcoklyn, NY, 1818),

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CHAPTER 1O DIVERSIFYING SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

.We have before taken a view of the principal advantages that must result

ro our union, and to our republican institutions, by attaching the various sec- tions of the country more inmediately together, by means of internal com- munication. Our Great canal, in this respect, will produce a rrain of exclusive and permanent benefits, which could not, from local causes, pertain to any similar undertakings within the scope of ourselves or of the nation. When you connect the Hudson with the Lakes, by such a communication, you vir- tually place the Adantic seaboard and the great western interior by the side of each other. From the ocean, you can pass through this whole chain of inland seas, navigable to vessels of the largest burthen. Nor should we stop here-New-York and New-Orleans could be brought, in point of inter- course, near each other. At trifling experue, and with no great effort of labor, you could open a communication by water, through which a vast corilnerce could be carried on from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River, which empties into the Mississippi above St. Louis, and traverses nearly the whole extent of that rising and fertile territory which will soon be admitted as a state atnong the other sisters of the union. Even in high waters, there is now a navigation for small craft, between the waters of the Illinois and the southern extremity of Lake Michigan through Chenango Creek. . . .

Pause for a moment, and consider the mighry population which will yet cluster on the shores of this chain of Lakes, and the unnumbered streams which roll their tributary bounties into their bosomsl The great western world which reposes upon their wide-stretched shores, needs no description of ours, to enhance its value in the estimation of the American people. It will yet contain a population, unequalled by any in the world for industry enter- prize and independence; a population bound together by those ties of union and interest, created and fortified by a grand system of internal improve- ments, of which the Great western canal will be the bulwark. In the animat- ing spectacle here presented in perspective, we see a great republican com- muniry cemented by the strongest considerations that ever influenced a political body-assimilated in manners, laws, sentiments and maxims, with their eyes fixed on their connection with the seaboard, as the life and support of their prosperity and happiness.-Yes, in this noble race of citizens, we see the cradle of liberty, laws, and the arts; we see the hallowed light of our lib- eral institutions beaming in its native purity, blended with the mild lustre of vittue, magnanimity and intelligence. . . .

While referring to the advantages resulting to the nation, and to the state, from the'Western Canal, we ought not to forget its effects on the prosperiry of our own city. New-York is now, and ever must be, the great depot of that vast trade circulating berween the country bordering on the Lakes, and the Adantic seaboard. Would the increase of this trade to ten times its present extent be of no consequence to her interests? Doris New-York forget that she is yet to contend with New-Orlears, for the character of the fust com- mercial city of the new world? We shall not here draw a comparison between the natural advantages of the two places; but we do say, that without

7 3 C H A R L E S G . F I N N E Y D E S C R I B E S T H E R O C H E S T E R R E V I V A L ( 1 8 3 G 3 1 )

the Western Canal, the competition will be Garful, before the lapse of half a century. It is by drawing to her control the trade of the west and the north; it is by aiding the State Government, in every liberal undertaking, for the pro- motion of internal cornmerce, that New-York is to stand, without a rival on this side [ofl the ocean. The Canal will render her a commercial emporium, second to none on the globe. It will pour into her bosom a tide of com- merce, which must leave its bounties by the way, to enrich and adorn, like the floods of the Nile. In trade, in wealth, and in arts, it will render her the L o n d o n o f A m e r i c a . . . .

Charles G. Finney Describes the Rochester Revival (1830-31)

The Second Great Awakening was one of the most important cubural mouements of the early 19th century. The waves of emotionally charged religious reform were so intense that upstate NewYorb became known as the "Burned-Ouer District." One oJ the most "Burned-Ouer" areas was Rochester, NewYork. Itcated on lake Ontario, Rochester had been a frontier village before the completion of the Erie Canal. The waterway brought aaess to distant markets anil immediately trunsforned the commu- nity into one of America's most dynamic cities. But rapid change brought community strcss, as hordes oJ newcomers sought a niche in a community with no frmly estab- Iisheil structures. Charles Grandison Finney's visit in 1830 would change all of that. A religious experience caused him to leate the legal profession in 1821, and by the mid-1820s, hk uiuid seftnons demanded that sinners in the audience rcpent or face eternal ilamnation. In his memoirs, excerpteil as follows, Finney desnibes the techniques he useil to win conuerts.

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Q u e s t i o n s t o C o n s i d e r

What is the authort perspective toward Rochester and its need for conversion?

Why does Charles G. Finney seem so eager to convert Rochester's lead- ing citizens?

How did the author use social pressure to gain converts?

Compare and contrast the portrayal of religion found in this document with that contained in "Description of a Conversion Experience at Cane Ridge, KY" (DocumentTT). How do you account for the diferences?