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131-538: Canals were critical industry, as until steam locomotives, canals were by the fastest way to travel long distances. Commercial canals generally had boatmen shifts that kept the barges moving behind mule teams 24 hours a day. Technology Archaeologists and Industrial Historians date the American Canal Age from 1790 to 1855 based on momentum and new construction activity, since many of the older canals, however limited later by locks that restricted boat sizes below

262-444: A barrier range with just five places where mule trains or wagon roads could be routed, presented a great challenge. Passengers and freight had to travel overland, a journey made more difficult by the rough condition of the roads. In 1800, it typically took 2.5 weeks to travel overland from New York to Cleveland , Ohio [460 miles (740 km)]; 4 weeks to Detroit [612 miles (985 km)]. The principal exportable product of

393-572: A humid continental climate ( Dfa/Dfb/Dc ), with warm-to-hot summers, cold and snowy winters with at least one month averaging below freezing, and four to seven months with mean temperatures warmer than 50 °F. The area from Martha's Vineyard and extreme SW Rhode Island to southern Delaware and western North Carolina has a warm temperate climate ( Cfa Köppen/ Do Trewartha) with long and hot summers with at least one month over 22°C (71.6°F), cool winters with all months over freezing, and six to seven months above 50°F. Although winter precipitation

524-450: A "slip scraper" (similar to a bulldozer). The sides of the canal were lined with stone set in clay, and the bottom was also lined with clay. The stonework required hundreds of German masons , who later built many of New York's buildings. All labor on the canal depended upon human (and animal) power or the force of water. Engineering techniques developed during its construction included the building of aqueducts to redirect water; one aqueduct

655-517: A cash crop. In 1632, King Charles I granted the charter for the Province of Maryland to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore . Calvert's father had been a prominent Catholic official who encouraged Catholic immigration to the English colonies. The charter offered no guidelines on religion. The Province of Carolina was the second attempted English settlement south of Virginia, the first being

786-541: A center for resort and travel destinations in the United States. New York City is the most populous city in the country and a major world financial center. Seventy-one of the world's Fortune 500 companies have their corporate headquarters in New York City, while Midtown Manhattan , with 400 million square feet of office space in 2018, is the largest central business district in the world. Washington, D.C.

917-674: A clear if not a complete view of the first era of inland water commerce in America. Next up there were numerous schemes and bills placed before the Pennsylvania assembly in the 1790-1816 time frame to improve navigation on the Susquehanna, Schuylkill and Lehigh Rivers, the first being the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company in 1791. They consumed private capital and public monies, but were little successful. Concurrently,

1048-536: A part of Massachusetts until achieving statehood in 1820. In 1685, King James II of England closed the legislatures and consolidated the New England colonies into the Dominion of New England , putting the region under the control of Governor Edmund Andros . In 1688, the colonies of New York, West Jersey, and East Jersey were added to the dominion. Andros was overthrown and the dominion was closed in 1689, after

1179-648: A proprietary colony of Quaker William Penn . The main population elements included the Quaker population based in Philadelphia, a Scotch-Irish population on the Western frontier, and numerous German colonies in between. Philadelphia became the largest city in the colonies with its central location, excellent port, and a population of about 30,000. The Pilgrims were a small group of Puritan separatists who felt that they needed to distance themselves physically from

1310-500: A settlement near Providence Plantations which they called Shawomet. However, Massachusetts Bay attempted to seize the land and put it under their own authority, so Gorton travelled to London to gain a charter from the King. Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick assisted him in gaining the charter, so he changed the name of the settlement to Warwick. Roger Williams secured a Royal Charter from the King in 1663 which united all four settlements into

1441-577: A steam tug and a coastal cargo ship all 45.6 miles (73.4 km) from the Delaware to the slack water pool at Mauch Chunk in present-day Jim Thorpe . Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. Grievances against the imperial government led the 13 colonies to begin uniting in 1774, and expelling British officials by 1775. Assembled at

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1572-648: A tributary of the Hudson River , rises near Lake Ontario and runs in a glacial meltwater channel just north of the Catskill range of the Appalachian Mountains , separating them from the geologically distinct Adirondacks to the north. The Mohawk and Hudson valleys form the only cut across the Appalachians north of Alabama , allowing an almost complete water route from New York City in

1703-624: A true canal, the Lehigh navigation was the type of canal built along the line of a river valley within its drainage basin and parallel to the fall of the watercourse. The Lehigh Canal for a time was two separate civil engineering projects constructed 20 years apart that stretched over two parts of the Lehigh River and totaling 72-mile (116 km) along the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania . The lower canal (46.5 miles (74.8 km))

1834-473: A walkway known as a towpath . Its construction, through limestone and mountains, proved a daunting task. The canal was built using some of the most advanced engineering technology from Holland. In 1823 construction reached the Niagara Escarpment , necessitating the building of five locks along a 3-mile (4.8 km) corridor to carry the canal over the escarpment. To move earth, animals pulled

1965-659: A war that served European interests more than their own. This dispute was a link in the chain of events that soon brought about the American Revolution. The British were left with large debts following the French and Indian War, so British leaders decided to increase taxation and control of the Thirteen Colonies. They imposed several new taxes, beginning with the Sugar Act of 1764. Later acts included

2096-468: Is more likely to fall as rain than as snow, occasional heavy snow is possible. The East Coast, with the exception of eastern Maine, is a low-relief, passive margin coast. It has been shaped by the Pleistocene glaciation in the far northern areas in New England, with offshore islands such as Nantucket , Martha's Vineyard , Block Island , and Fishers Island . From northern New Jersey southward,

2227-524: Is more likely to fall as rain than as snow, occasional heavy snow is possible. The area from the southern Delmarva Peninsula , southeast Virginia, and central North Carolina south to central Florida is humid subtropical ( Cfa/Cf ), with hot and rainy summers, mild and drier winters, and eight to twelve months above 50°F. Urban heat island exclaves of this zone are found north of this area in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The region of Florida from

2358-429: Is the federal capital and political nerve center of the United States. Many organizations such as defense contractors, civilian contractors, nonprofit organizations, lobbying firms, trade unions, industry trade groups and professional associations have their headquarters in or near Washington, D.C., in order to be close to the federal government . Miami is one of the top domestic and international travel destinations in

2489-419: The Appalachian Mountains , as this was designated an Indian Reserve . Some groups of settlers disregarded the proclamation, however, and continued to move west and establish farms. The proclamation was modified and was no longer a hindrance to settlement, but the fact angered the colonists that it had been promulgated without their prior consultation. Parliament had directly levied duties and excise taxes on

2620-582: The Boston Tea Party in 1773 when the Sons of Liberty dumped thousands of pounds of tea into the water. Tensions escalated in 1774 as Parliament passed the laws known as the Intolerable Acts , which greatly restricted self-government in the colony of Massachusetts. These laws also allowed British military commanders to claim colonial homes for the quartering of soldiers, regardless of whether

2751-536: The Caribbean , and what is today Canada . The Thirteen Colonies were separate entities under the Crown, but had similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, and each was dominated by Protestant English-speakers. The first of the colonies, Virginia, was established at Jamestown , in 1607. The New England Colonies, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, were substantially motivated by their founders' concerns related to

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2882-534: The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . Other colonists settled to the north, mingling with adventurers and profit-oriented settlers to establish more religiously diverse colonies in New Hampshire and Maine . Massachusetts absorbed these small settlements when it made significant land claims in the 1640s and 1650s, but New Hampshire was eventually given a separate charter in 1679. Maine remained

3013-691: The Currency Act of 1764 , the Stamp Act of 1765 , and the Townshend Acts of 1767. Colonial newspapers and printers in particular took strong exception against the Stamp Act which imposed a tax on newspapers and official documents, and played a central role in disseminating literature among the colonists against such taxes and the idea of taxation without colonial representation. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 restricted settlement west of

3144-781: The Delaware River and the Potomac River , respectively, both of which are tidal arms of the Atlantic Ocean. The original Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain in North America all lay along the East Coast. Two additional U.S. states on the East Coast were not among the original Thirteen Colonies: Maine became part of the English Colony of Massachusetts in 1677 and Florida was held by

3275-716: The Easter season. Delaware Colony and the provinces of New Jersey , New York , and Pennsylvania had been colonized by the Dutch as New Netherland until they were ceded to the British in the mid- to late-17th century. Until 1791, Vermont was an independent nation as the Vermont Republic . Three basic climate regions occur on the East Coast according to the Köppen climate classification and four occur according to

3406-715: The Glorious Revolution deposed King James II; the former colonies were re-established. According to Guy Miller, the Rebellion of 1689 was the "climax of the 60-year-old struggle between the government in England and the Puritans of Massachusetts over the question of who was to rule the Bay colony." In 1702, East and West Jersey were combined to form the Province of New Jersey . The northern and southern sections of

3537-699: The Holland Land Company in Batavia ). Ellicott realized that a canal would add value to the land he was selling in the western part of the state. He later became the first canal commissioner. The first legislation supporting canals in North America was passed in 1762 in the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania to improve navigation on the Schuylkill River through Philadelphia , the largest city in North America. It provided for

3668-596: The New England Confederation in 1643, and all New England colonies were included in the Dominion of New England (1686–1689). The Province of Carolina was initially chartered in 1629 and initial settlements were established after 1651. That charter was voided in 1660 by Charles II and a new charter was issued in 1663, making it a proprietary colony. The Carolina province was divided into separate proprietary colonies, north and south in 1712, before both became royal colonies in 1729. Earlier, along

3799-574: The New Haven , Saybrook , and Connecticut colonies. During the 17th century, the New Haven and Saybrook colonies were absorbed by Connecticut. Roger Williams established Providence Plantations in 1636 on land provided by Narragansett sachem Canonicus . Williams was a Puritan who preached religious tolerance, separation of Church and State , and a complete break with the Church of England. He

3930-566: The Ohio Valley was grain, which was a high-volume, low-priced commodity, bolstered by supplies from the coast. Frequently it was not worth the cost of transporting it to far-away population centers. This was a factor leading to farmers in the west turning their grains into whiskey for easier transport and higher sales, and later the Whiskey Rebellion . In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it became clear to coastal residents that

4061-722: The Plymouth Company and the London Company for the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in America. The London Company established the Colony of Virginia in 1607, the first permanently settled English colony on the continent. The Plymouth Company founded the Popham Colony on the Kennebec River , but it was short-lived. The Plymouth Council for New England sponsored several colonization projects, culminating with Plymouth Colony in 1620 which

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4192-578: The Schuylkill Canal which was chartered in 1812 but like the earlier Lehigh River projects, languished lazily, only raising a small amount of new funds annually, and getting only a little amount of work done accordingly. Josiah White and partner Erskine Hazard needing fuel for their wire mill and nail factory at the falls of the Schuylkill fought this plodding method of incremental improvement for years. Like many North American canals of

4323-910: The Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia , after armed conflict had broken out in April, they appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to fight the American Revolutionary War . In 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence as the United States of America and, asserting its sovereignty, the United States allied with Britain's enemy, France. Defeating British armies with its French ally,

4454-476: The Trewartha climate classification from north to south based on the monthly mean temperature of the coldest month (January) and the number of months averaging above 50 °F (10 °C), respectively. The region from northern Maine and Upstate New York south to almost all of Connecticut, most of northern New Jersey (except for areas close enough to New York City ), most of Pennsylvania, and western Maryland has

4585-612: The War of the Austrian Succession , but most colonists called it King George's War . In 1745, British and colonial forces captured the town of Louisbourg , and the war came to an end with the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle . However, many colonists were angered when Britain returned Louisbourg to France in return for Madras and other territories. In the aftermath of the war, both the British and French sought to expand into

4716-415: The 13 colonies. During the 1750s, the colonies began collaborating with one another instead of dealing directly with Britain. With the help of colonial printers and newspapers , these inter-colonial activities and concerns were shared and led to calls for protection of the colonists' " Rights as Englishmen ", especially the principle of " no taxation without representation ". Late 18th century conflicts with

4847-542: The 1740s, the Thirteen Colonies underwent the First Great Awakening . In 1738, an incident involving a Welsh mariner named Robert Jenkins sparked the War of Jenkins' Ear between Britain and Spain. Hundreds of North Americans volunteered for Admiral Edward Vernon 's assault on Cartagena de Indias , a Spanish city in South America. The war against Spain merged into a broader conflict known as

4978-592: The 1754 Albany Congress , Pennsylvania colonist Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan which would have created a unified government of the Thirteen Colonies for coordination of defense and other matters, but the plan was rejected by the leaders of most colonies. In the Treaty of Paris (1763) , France formally ceded to Britain the eastern part of its vast North American empire, having secretly given to Spain

5109-862: The 1777 Articles of Confederation . East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States , also known as the Eastern Seaboard , the Atlantic Coast , and the Atlantic Seaboard , is the region encompassing the coastline where the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean . The Thirteen Colonies , which formed the United States in 1776 were located on this coast, and it has played an important role in

5240-520: The 1820s-1840s, the canal operating companies partnered with or founded short feeder railroads to connect to their sources or markets. Two good examples of this were funded by private enterprise: Together, they and the Schuylkill Canal - Reading Railroad would supply and transport the majority of Anthracite needed by northern industries in the early North American Industrial Revolution . Unlike Europe, America did not have canals for several hundred years before industrialization. In North America, everything

5371-591: The 1931 closure of commercial operations. The lower canal connected the Southern Coal Region to the Delaware River basin, connecting present-day Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania to Easton in the Lehigh Valley , using a specially designed canal boat capable of making the one-way trip on the River as well. It was used to carry anthracite gathered to the central Lehigh Valley to the urban markets of

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5502-483: The American civilians were willing or not to have soldiers in their homes. The laws further revoked colonial rights to hold trials in cases involving soldiers or crown officials, forcing such trials to be held in England rather than in America. Parliament also sent Thomas Gage to serve as Governor of Massachusetts and as the commander of British forces in North America. By 1774, colonists still hoped to remain part of

5633-499: The Americas, and the problem still exists in those parts of the world where muscle power provides a primary means of transportation within a region. An equally ancient solution was implemented in many cultures — things in the water weighed far less and took less effort to move since friction became negligible. Close to the seacoast, rivers often provided adequate waterways, but the Appalachian Mountains , 400 miles (640 km) inland, running over 1,500 miles (2,400 km) long as

5764-457: The Atlantic coast supplied the Atlantic market with beaver fur and deerskins. America had an advantage in natural resources and established its own thriving shipbuilding industry, and many American merchants engaged in the transatlantic trade. Improved economic conditions and easing of religious persecution in Europe made it more difficult to recruit labor to the colonies, and many colonies became increasingly reliant on slave labor, particularly in

5895-497: The British Empire, but discontentment was widespread concerning British rule throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Colonists elected delegates to the First Continental Congress , which convened in Philadelphia in September 1774. In the aftermath of the Intolerable Acts, the delegates asserted that the colonies owed allegiance only to the king; they would accept royal governors as agents of the king, but they were no longer willing to recognize Parliament's right to pass legislation affecting

6026-464: The British force at the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord , then lay siege to Boston . By spring 1775, all royal officials had been expelled, and the Continental Congress hosted a convention of delegates for the Thirteen Colonies. It raised an army to fight the British and named George Washington its commander, made treaties, declared independence, and recommended that the colonies write constitutions and become states, later enumerated in

6157-399: The British from the end of the French and Indian War until 1781 and was part of New Spain until 1821. In present-day Florida, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León made the first textual records of the state during his 1513 voyage. The state was initially named for Ponce de Ponce de León, who called the peninsula La Pascua Florida in recognition of the verdant landscape and because it was

6288-485: The British government over taxes and rights led to the American Revolution , in which the Thirteen Colonies joined together for the first time to form the Continental Congress and raised the Continental Army , declaring independence in 1776. They fought the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) with the aid of the Kingdom of France and, to a much lesser degree, the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Spain . In 1606, King James I of England granted charters to both

6419-419: The Carolina colony operated more or less independently until 1691 when Philip Ludwell was appointed governor of the entire province. From that time until 1708, the northern and southern settlements remained under one government. However, during this period, the two halves of the province began increasingly to be known as North Carolina and South Carolina, as the descendants of the colony's proprietors fought over

6550-436: The Church of England, which they perceived as corrupted. They initially moved to the Netherlands, but eventually sailed to America in 1620 on the Mayflower . Upon their arrival, they drew up the Mayflower Compact , by which they bound themselves together as a united community, thus establishing the small Plymouth Colony . William Bradford was their main leader. After its founding, other settlers traveled from England to join

6681-405: The East Coast is connected from the Annisquam River in Gloucester, Massachusetts to Miami, Florida , by the Intracoastal Waterway , also known as the East Coast Canal, which was completed in 1912. Amtrak's Downeaster and Northeast Regional offer the main passenger rail service on the Seaboard. The Acela Express offers the only high-speed rail passenger service in the Americas, by

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6812-504: The English population migrated to America after 1700, but the colonies attracted new immigrants from other European countries. These immigrants traveled to all of the colonies, but the Middle Colonies attracted the most and continued to be more ethnically diverse than the other colonies. Numerous settlers immigrated from Ireland, both Catholic and Protestant—particularly " New Light " Ulster Presbyterians . Protestant Germans also immigrated in large numbers, particularly to Pennsylvania. In

6943-471: The Great Lakes and Ohio valley. The French and Indian War took on a new significance for the British North American colonists when William Pitt the Elder decided that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America in order to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a world war . During the war, it became increasingly apparent to American colonists that they were under

7074-427: The LCMC made little profits, and only sporadic efforts over two decades. Inspired by the energy shortfall during the blockade of the War of 1812 , the LCMC sent a large expedition out in 1813, which started down the river in spring of 1814 with five arks laden with coal. Only two of them made it to Philadelphia, and both were purchased by Josiah White and partner Erskine Hazard . The LCMC board in its disgust confirmed

7205-409: The Lords combined their remaining capital and financed a settlement mission to the area led by Sir John Colleton . The expedition located fertile and defensible ground at Charleston , originally Charles Town for Charles II of England . Beginning in 1609, Dutch traders established fur trading posts on the Hudson River , Delaware River , and Connecticut River , seeking to protect their interests in

7336-458: The Ohio River valley. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the American extension of the general European conflict known as the Seven Years' War . Previous colonial wars in North America had started in Europe and then spread to the colonies, but the French and Indian War is notable for having started in North America and spread to Europe. One of the primary causes of the war was increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in

7467-478: The South. The population of slaves in America grew dramatically between 1680 and 1750, and the growth was driven by a mixture of forced immigration and the reproduction of slaves. Slaves supported vast plantation economies in the South, while slaves in the North worked in a variety of occupations. There were a few local attempted slave revolts, such as the Stono Rebellion and the New York Conspiracy of 1741 , but these uprisings were suppressed. A small proportion of

7598-416: The Susquehanna River valley passed by Beaver Meadows and the eventual Beaver Meadows mines, and then attempted to transport the coal down the Lehigh River to the Delaware River and on to the docks in Philadelphia . The lack of steady effort and an intimately involved company officer in the operations returned sketchy results, most often the expeditions would loose arks on the rapids of the Lehigh and so

7729-415: The United States. Miami is the warmest major city in the continental United States in winter, which contributes to it being a major tourism hub for international visitors. Miami has one of the largest concentrations of international banks in the United States, and the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 439 high-rises, 68 of which exceed 490 ft (149 m). Port of Miami is the busiest cruise port in

7860-413: The area south of the Carolinas be colonized with the "worthy poor" of England to provide an alternative to the overcrowded debtors' prisons. Oglethorpe and other English philanthropists secured a royal charter as the Trustees of the colony of Georgia on June 9, 1732. Oglethorpe and his compatriots hoped to establish a utopian colony that banned slavery and recruited only the most worthy settlers, but by 1750

7991-400: The authority of the British Empire , as British military and civilian officials took on an increased presence in their lives. The war also increased a sense of American unity in other ways. It caused men to travel across the continent who might otherwise have never left their own colony, fighting alongside men from decidedly different backgrounds who were nonetheless still American. Throughout

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8122-432: The base for extensive trade with the English colonies, and many products from New England and Virginia were carried to Europe on Dutch ships. The Dutch also engaged in the burgeoning Atlantic slave trade , bringing some enslaved Africans to the English colonies in North America, although many more were sent to Barbados and Brazil. The West India Company desired to grow New Netherland as it became commercially successful, yet

8253-424: The cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston had a population of more than 16,000, which was small by European standards. By 1770, the economic output of the Thirteen Colonies made up forty percent of the gross domestic product of the entire British Empire. As the 18th century progressed, colonists began to settle far from the Atlantic coast. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, and Maryland all laid claim to

8384-412: The city or state that succeeded in developing a cheap, reliable route to the West would enjoy economic success, and the port at the seaward end of such a route would see business increase greatly. In time, projects were devised in Virginia , Maryland , Pennsylvania , and relatively deep into the coastal states. The idea of a canal to tie the East Coast of the United States to the new western settlements

8515-528: The coast, the Roanoke Colony was established in 1585, re-established in 1587, and found abandoned in 1590. The first British colony was Jamestown , established on May 14, 1607 near Chesapeake Bay . The business venture was financed and coordinated by the London Virginia Company , a joint-stock company looking for gold. Its first years were extremely difficult, with very high death rates from disease and starvation, wars with local Indians, and little gold. The colony survived and flourished by turning to tobacco as

8646-405: The coastal plain broadens southwards, separated from the Piedmont region by the Atlantic Seaboard fall line of the East Coast rivers, often marking the head of navigation and prominent sites of cities. The coastal areas from Long Island south to Florida are often made up of barrier islands that front the coastal areas, with the long stretches of sandy beaches. Many of the larger capes along

8777-417: The colonies formed bodies of elected representatives known as Provincial Congresses , and colonists began to boycott imported British merchandise. Later in 1774, 12 colonies sent representatives to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia . During the Second Continental Congress , the remaining colony of Georgia sent delegates as well. Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage feared a confrontation with

8908-427: The colonies of East and West Florida . In removing a major foreign threat to the thirteen colonies, the war also largely removed the colonists' need for colonial protection. The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe. The colonists' loyalty to the mother country was stronger than ever before. However, disunity was beginning to form. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder had decided to wage

9039-485: The colonies, bypassing the colonial legislatures, and Americans began to insist on the principle of " no taxation without representation " with intense protests over the Stamp Act of 1765 . They argued that the colonies had no representation in the British Parliament, so it was a violation of their rights as Englishmen for taxes to be imposed upon them. Parliament rejected the colonial protests and asserted its authority by passing new taxes. Colonial discontentment grew with

9170-455: The colonies. In the 18th century, the British government operated under a policy of mercantilism , in which the central government administered its colonies for Britain's economic benefit. The 13 colonies had a degree of self-governance and active local elections , and they resisted London's demands for more control over them. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) against France and its Indian allies led to growing tensions between Britain and

9301-424: The colonies. Most delegates opposed an attack on the British position in Boston, and the Continental Congress instead agreed to the imposition of a boycott known as the Continental Association . The boycott proved effective and the value of British imports dropped dramatically. The Thirteen Colonies became increasingly divided between Patriots opposed to British rule and Loyalists who supported it. In response,

9432-458: The colonists; he requested reinforcements from Britain, but the British government was not willing to pay for the expense of stationing tens of thousands of soldiers in the Thirteen Colonies. Gage was instead ordered to seize Patriot arsenals. He dispatched a force to march on the arsenal at Concord, Massachusetts , but the Patriots learned about it and blocked their advance. The Patriots repulsed

9563-578: The colony failed to attract the same level of settlement as the English colonies did. Many of those who did immigrate to the colony were English, German, Walloon , or Sephardim . In 1638, Sweden established the colony of New Sweden in the Delaware Valley . The operation was led by former members of the Dutch West India Company, including Peter Minuit. New Sweden established extensive trading contacts with English colonies to

9694-474: The colony remained sparsely populated. The proprietors gave up their charter in 1752, at which point Georgia became a crown colony. The population of the Thirteen Colonies grew immensely in the 18th century. According to historian Alan Taylor , the population was 1.5 million in 1750, which represented four-fifths of the population of British North America . More than 90 percent of the colonists lived as farmers, though some seaports also flourished. In 1760,

9825-407: The colony, dominating the rural areas between Manhattan and Albany, while people from New England started moving in as well as immigrants from Germany. New York City attracted a large polyglot population, including a large black slave population. In 1674, the proprietary colonies of East Jersey and West Jersey were created from lands formerly part of New York. Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 as

9956-643: The colony. More Puritans immigrated in 1629 and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony with 400 settlers. They sought to reform the Church of England by creating a new, ideologically pure church in the New World. By 1640, 20,000 had arrived ; many died soon after arrival, but the others found a healthy climate and an ample food supply. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies together spawned other Puritan colonies in New England, including

10087-771: The context of the American Revolution . In London, beginning in 1660, all colonies were governed through a state department known as the Southern Department , and a committee of the Privy Council called the Board of Trade and Plantations . In 1768, a specific state department was created for America, but it was disbanded in 1782 when the Home Office took responsibility. Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven Colonies formed

10218-516: The course of the war, British officers trained Americans for battle, most notably George Washington , which benefited the American cause during the Revolution. Also, colonial legislatures and officials had to cooperate intensively in pursuit of the continent-wide military effort. The relations were not always positive between the British military establishment and the colonists, setting the stage for later distrust and dislike of British troops. At

10349-409: The daytime. The best examples furnished with carpeted floors, stuffed chairs, and mahogany tables stocked with current newspapers and books served as sitting rooms during the days. At mealtimes crews transformed the cabin into dining rooms. Drawing a curtain across the width of the room divided the cabin into ladies' and gentlemen's sleeping quarters in the evening hours. Pull down tiered beds folded from

10480-499: The decisions and strategies of the Schuykill Canal's board of directors, so by the winter of 1814 were very interested in exploring the option of getting coal from Lehigh valley down to Philadelphia the more than 100 miles (160 km), one way or another., but by late 1822 just as anthracite was achieving early acceptance and the skepticism was waning the drain of building sacrificial 'Coal Arks' for every load delivered to

10611-586: The development of the United States. The region is generally understood to include the U.S. states that border the Atlantic Ocean: Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , North Carolina , Rhode Island , South Carolina , and Virginia , as well as the federal capital of Washington, D.C. , and non-coastline states: Pennsylvania , Vermont , and West Virginia . The place name East Coast derives from

10742-447: The direction of the colony. The colonists of Charles Town finally deposed their governor and elected their own government. This marked the start of separate governments in the Province of North-Carolina and the Province of South Carolina . In 1729, the king formally revoked Carolina's colonial charter and established both North Carolina and South Carolina as crown colonies. In the 1730s, Parliamentarian James Oglethorpe proposed that

10873-528: The docks of Philadelphia in 1822 as the LC&;N operations were just hitting stride was already a worry to the managing board of directors. By mid-1822, managing director Josiah White was consulting with Canvass White , a veteran designing engineer of New York 's Erie Canal locks, and by late 1822 had shifted construction efforts from bolstering and improving the one-way system begun in 1818 with ambitious two-way dams and lock construction capable of taking both

11004-458: The failed attempt at Roanoke . It was a private venture, financed by a group of English Lords Proprietors who obtained a Royal Charter to the Carolinas in 1663, hoping that a new colony in the south would become profitable like Jamestown. Carolina was not settled until 1670, and even then the first attempt failed because there was no incentive for emigration to that area. Eventually, however,

11135-504: The first lock canal in America, from near Reading on the Schuylkill to Middletown on the Susquehanna. As energetic men all along the Atlantic Plain now took up the problem of improving the inland rivers, they faced a storm of criticism and ridicule that would have daunted any but such as Washington and Johnson of Virginia or White and Hazard of Pennsylvania or Morris and Watson of New York. Every imaginable objection to such projects

11266-411: The first spot in the United States that immigrants arrived and the close proximity of Europe , the Caribbean , and Latin America , the East Coast is home to a diverse population and home to multi-cultures when compared to the rest of the U.S. From the strong Latin culture in southern Florida , to the 200-year-old Gullah culture of the low country coastal islands of Georgia and South Carolina , to

11397-559: The first steps to improve navigation on the Mohawk and construct a canal between the Mohawk and Lake Ontario), but the company proved that private financing was insufficient. George Washington led a partly enduring effort to turn the Potomac River into a navigable link to the west, sinking substantial energy and capital into the Patowmack Canal from 1785 until his death fourteen years later. By 1788 Washington's Potomac Company

11528-809: The former Thirteen Colonies had its sovereignty recognized by Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The Thirteen Colonies in their traditional groupings were: the New England Colonies ( New Hampshire , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , and Connecticut ); the Middle Colonies ( New York , New Jersey , Pennsylvania , and Delaware ); and the Southern Colonies ( Maryland , Virginia , North Carolina , South Carolina , and Georgia ). These colonies were part of British America , which also included territory in The Floridas ,

11659-594: The fur trade. The Dutch West India Company established permanent settlements on the Hudson River, creating the Dutch colony of New Netherland . In 1626, Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape Indians and established the outpost of New Amsterdam . Relatively few Dutch settled in New Netherland, but the colony came to dominate the regional fur trade. It also served as

11790-523: The global British trading network, as the value tripled for exports from America to Britain between 1700 and 1754. The colonists were restricted in trading with other European powers, but they found profitable trade partners in the other British colonies, particularly in the Caribbean. The colonists traded foodstuffs, wood, tobacco, and various other resources for Asian tea, West Indian coffee, and West Indian sugar, among other items. American Indians far from

11921-416: The heftiest cuttings and viaducts , fifty locks would be required along the 360-mile (580 km) canal. Such a canal would be expensive to build even with modern technology; in 1800, the expense was barely imaginable. President Thomas Jefferson called it "a little short of madness" and rejected it; however, Hawley interested New York Governor DeWitt Clinton in the project. There was much opposition, and

12052-548: The history of the 1820-1880s Industrial Revolution , and with much the same clout as a modern conglomerate such as General Motors, or General Electric or with the same sorts of innovations as are ascribed to IBM, Microsoft or the like. Leveraging of innovation and immense self-confidence, the Company founders With the discovery of large surface deposits of anthracite coal, the Lehigh Coal Mine Company (LCMC)

12183-730: The idea that the contiguous 48 states are defined by two major coastlines, one at the western edge and one on the eastern edge. Other terms for referring to this area include the Eastern Seaboard , which is another term for coastline, Atlantic Coast, and Atlantic Seaboard because the coastline lies along the Atlantic Ocean . The 14 states that have a shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean are (from north to south): Maine , New Hampshire , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , Connecticut , New York , New Jersey , Delaware , Maryland , Virginia , North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia , and Florida . Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. border

12314-604: The lack of water- and roadways made English coal shipped across the Atlantic cheaper in Philadelphia than Pennsylvania anthracite mined 100 miles away. Canals would benefit both the East and the Midwest. For more than a century, they had provided Europe with inexpensive, reliable transportation, and George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and other founding fathers believed they were the key to the New World's future. The Mohawk River ,

12445-591: The land in the Ohio River valley. The colonies engaged in a scramble to purchase land from Indian tribes, as the British insisted that claims to land should rest on legitimate purchases. Virginia was particularly intent on western expansion, and most of the elite Virginia families invested in the Ohio Company to promote the settlement of the Ohio Country . The British American colonies became part of

12576-417: The largest city and the largest metropolitan area on the East Coast. The East Coast is the most populated coastal area in the United States. Hartford The primary Interstate Highway along the East Coast is Interstate 95 , completed in 2018, which replaced the historic U.S. Route 1 ( Atlantic Highway ), the original federal highway that traversed all East Coast states, except Delaware . By water,

12707-1381: The lenient US definition of high speed rail. Between New York and Boston the Acela Express has up to a 54% share of the combined train and air passenger market. Some of the largest airports in the United States are located along the East Coast of the United States, such as John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens , New York City , Logan International Airport in Boston , Newark Liberty Airport in Newark, New Jersey , Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia , Baltimore–Washington International Airport near Baltimore , Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. , Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport in Atlanta , Miami International Airport in Miami , Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina , Tampa International Airport in Tampa , and Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida . As

12838-463: The lower East Coast are in fact barrier islands, like the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Cape Canaveral , Florida. The Florida Keys are made up of limestone coral and provide the only coral reefs on the U.S. mainland. In 2010, the population of the states that have shoreline on the East Coast was estimated at 112,642,503 (about 36% of the country's total population). New York City is both

12969-538: The many historic cities in the Mid-Atlantic , where a strong English, German, Italian, Irish, and French culture are present, the East Coast is significantly more diverse than the rest of the United States. Numerous Chinatowns in New York City , and Little Havana in Miami , are examples of such cultural centers in the bigger cities. The East Coast is home to much of the political and financial power and

13100-465: The more significant storms to have affected the region. The least common climate on the East Coast is the oceanic ( Cfb/Do ), which is only found on Block Island , Nantucket , and the Outer Cape and Chatham on Cape Cod , and in areas of the southern Appalachian Mountains . This zone has all monthly averages between 0 and 22 °C and six to seven months above 50 °F. Although winter precipitation

13231-406: The most economic capacities and well-behind later-developing technological capabilities, nonetheless continued on in service well into the twentieth century. From the first days of the expansion of the British colonies from the coast of North America into the heartland of the continent, a recurring problem was that of transportation between the coastal ports and the interior. This was not unique to

13362-714: The nonstop smooth method of transportation cut nearly in half the travel time between Albany and Buffalo moving day and night. Venturing West men and women boarded packets to visit relatives or solely for a relaxing excursion. Emigrants took passage on freight boats camping on deck or on top of crates. Packet boats serving passengers exclusively reached speeds of up to five miles per hour (8.0 km/h) an hour and ran at much more frequent intervals than cramped, bumpy stages. Packet boats measuring up to 78 feet (24 m) in length and 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet (4.4 m) across made ingenious use of space in order to accommodate up to forty passengers at night and up to three times as many in

13493-574: The northeast, especially Philadelphia , Trenton, New Jersey , and Wilmington, Delaware , but supported new growth industries in Bristol, Pennsylvania , Allentown and Bethlehem . The privately funded canal was joined as part of the Pennsylvania Canal System , a complex system of canals and tow paths—and eventually railroads. The canal was sold for recreation use in the 1960s. The Lehigh Navigation & Coal Company sits astride

13624-526: The passage of the 1773 Tea Act , which reduced taxes on tea sold by the East India Company in an effort to undercut the competition, and Prime Minister North's ministry hoped that this would establish a precedent of colonists accepting British taxation policies. Trouble escalated over the tea tax, as Americans in each colony boycotted the tea, and those in Boston dumped the tea in the harbor during

13755-725: The politically connected Erskine Hazard and his older partner Josiah White , who together built the Lehigh Canal and the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company , founding towns, mines, and building economically productive mining and transportation infrastructure from a wilderness in Eastern Pennsylvania south and west of the Poconos in the anthracite creating folded ridges of the Ridge and Valley Appalachians . Not

13886-650: The port of New York City to the promise of the Great Lakes , just then undergoing rapid settlement as the 1779 Sullivan Expedition had brushed aside the Iroquois and opened the Northwest Territory to settlement. Inspired in part by the news of the Erie's technological achievements, the privately funded Lehigh Canal was an achievement brought about by the energy needs of two visionary industrialists,

14017-413: The practice of religion. The other colonies were founded for business and economic expansion. The Middle Colonies were established on the former Dutch colony of New Netherland . Between 1625 and 1775, the colonial population grew from 2 thousand to 2.4 million, largely displacing the region's Native Americans . The population included people subject to a system of slavery , which was legal in all of

14148-746: The predecessor of the Erie Canal was begun in New York State and in New England, Connecticut and Massachusetts were looking at a few waterways needing better navigability. The Lehigh Canal was developed when the last of these licenses, awarded in 1816, expired in early 1818 with virtually nothing to show for the funds spent. This expiration allowed the state to give rights-of-way to the Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company in March 1818, founded by two disgruntled formerly enthusiastic backers of

14279-462: The project was ridiculed as "Clinton's folly" and "Clinton's ditch." In 1817, though, Clinton received approval from the legislature for $ 7 million for construction. The original canal was 363 miles (584 km) long, from Albany on the Hudson to Buffalo on Lake Erie. The channel was cut 40 feet (12 m) wide and 4 feet (1.2 m) deep, with removed soil piled on the downhill side to form

14410-617: The remainder of New Netherland. The 1667 Treaty of Breda ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War and confirmed English control of the region. The Dutch briefly regained control of parts of New Netherland in the Third Anglo-Dutch War but surrendered claim to the territory in the 1674 Treaty of Westminster , ending the Dutch colonial presence in America. The British renamed the colony of New Amsterdam to "York City" or "New York". Large numbers of Dutch remained in

14541-422: The right of way remained on the towpath side of the canal. The other boat steered toward the berm (or heelpath) side of the canal. The driver (or "hoggee", pronounced HO-gee ) of the privileged boat kept his towpath team by the canalside edge of the towpath, while the hoggee of the other boat moved to the outside of the towpath and stopped his team. His towline would be unravelled from the horses, go slack, fall into

14672-530: The south and shipped much of the tobacco produced in Virginia. The colony was conquered by the Dutch in 1655, while Sweden was engaged in the Second Northern War . Beginning in the 1650s, the English and Dutch engaged in a series of wars , and the English sought to conquer New Netherland. Richard Nicolls captured the lightly defended New Amsterdam in 1664, and his subordinates quickly captured

14803-487: The south to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in the west. Along its course and from these lakes, other Great Lakes , and to a lesser degree, related rivers, a large part of the continent's interior and many settlements were well connected to the Eastern seaboard . The problem was that the land rises about 600 feet (180 m) from the Hudson to Lake Erie. Locks at the time could handle up to 12 feet (3.7 m), so even with

14934-789: The south-central region of the state south to the Florida Keys has a tropical climate ( Af/Aw/Ar ) that is usually frost-free and warm to hot all year, and all of the 12 months of the year average above 18 °C (64.4 °F). This region of Florida is the only tropical climate in the continental U.S. Although landfalls are rare, the Eastern Seaboard is susceptible to hurricanes in the Atlantic hurricane season, officially running from June 1 to November 30, although hurricanes can occur before or after these dates. Hurricanes Hazel , Hugo , Bob , Isabel , Irene , and Sandy , and most recently Florence , Isaias , Henri , and Ida are some of

15065-622: The surveying of a lock canal along the Schuylkill tributary Tulpehocken Creek ; this would be built between 1782 and 1828 as the Union Canal , part of the omnibus Pennsylvania legislative package, the Main Line of Public Works , and was the only water route connecting the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers above the Chesapeake Bay . Pennsylvania had been foremost among the colonies in canal building, for it had surveyed as early as 1762

15196-666: The territory of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River the previous year. Before the war, Britain held the thirteen American colonies, most of present-day Nova Scotia , and most of the Hudson Bay watershed. Following the war, Britain gained all French territory east of the Mississippi River, including Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio River valley. Britain also gained Spanish Florida , from which it formed

15327-615: The unreliability of the fuel source when they let it be known they planned no further risky expeditions as too costly, giving White and Hazard the idea of purchasing the rights to operate the mining company. In the fall of 1814 they mounted an expedition to survey the Lehigh's problems and those of the coal mine and transportation needs for getting its output to the River reliably and regularly. The lower Lehigh Canal improvements were initially designed and engineered by LC&N founder Josiah White after they'd very quickly become disenchanted with

15458-404: The walls and additional cots could be hung from hooks in the ceiling. Some captains hired musicians and held dances. The canal had brought civilization into the wilderness. Two early 19th century canals had inordinately large impacts on the demographic and industrial development of the United States. The daring Erie Canal , begun in 1815 after a decade of debate and contemplation was a bid to join

15589-484: The war in the colonies with the use of troops from the colonies and tax funds from Britain itself. This was a successful wartime strategy but, after the war was over, each side believed that it had borne a greater burden than the other. The British elite, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers. The colonists replied that their sons had fought and died in

15720-415: The water and sink to the bottom while his boat decelerated on with its remaining momentum. The privileged boat's team would step over the other boat's towline with their horses pulling the boat over the sunken towline without stopping. Once clear, the other boat's team would continue on its way. Pulled by teams of horses canal boats still moved slowly but methodically shrinking time and distance. Efficiently,

15851-406: Was 950 feet (290 m) long to span 800 feet (240 m) of river. As the canal progressed, the crews and engineers working on the project developed expertise and became a skilled labor force. Canal boats up to 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet (1.1 m) in draft were pulled by horses and mules on the towpath. This canal has one towpath generally on the north side. When canal boats met, the boat with

15982-754: Was advanced—from the inefficiency of the science of engineering to the probable destruction of all the fish in the streams. In spite of these discouragements, however, various men set themselves to form in rapid succession the Potomac Company in 1785, the Society for Promoting the Improvement of Inland Navigation in 1791, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company in 1792, and the Lehigh Coal Mine Company in 1793. A brief review of these various enterprises will give

16113-468: Was already in the air by 1724: New York provincial official Cadwallader Colden made a passing reference (in a report on fur trading) to improving the natural waterways of western New York. Gouverneur Morris and Elkanah Watson were early proponents of a canal along the Mohawk River . Their efforts led to the creation of the Western and Northern Inland Lock Navigation Companies in 1792 (which took

16244-485: Was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony over theological disagreements; he founded the settlement based on an egalitarian constitution, providing for majority rule "in civil things" and "liberty of conscience" in religious matters. In 1637, a second group including Anne Hutchinson established a second settlement on Rhode Island , today called Aquidneck. Samuel Gorton and others established

16375-406: Was built by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company as a coal road to service the anthracite demand of the Eastern coast cities ahead of schedule, between 1818-1820 with down traffic only, and then gradually rebuilt with locks fully supporting two way traffic, between 1822-1824, 1827-1829 by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company and continued in operation as a key transportation canal until

16506-426: Was developed simultaneously. Early railroads in North America made many canals economically feasible, and canal's needs added to the demands by industries that pushed the early railroads into pressurized research and development and rapid steady improvements. By 1855, canals were no longer the civil engineering work of first resort, for it was nearly always better—cheaper to build a railroad above ground than it

16637-423: Was formed in 1792 to secure the mineral rights to vast areas of wilderness west of the Lehigh River ranging beyond to the outcrops atop Sharpe Peak of Pisgah Ridge near present-day Summit Hill, Pennsylvania . The LCMC lacked a principle investor as a hands-on-manager and periodically hired teams to trek to the wilderness to build 'Arks' along the Lehigh near the turnpike operated from Lausanne above Mauch Chunk to

16768-622: Was never implemented. Jesse Hawley finally got the canal built. He had envisioned encouraging the growing of large quantities of grain on the Western New York plains (then largely unsettled) for sale on the Eastern seaboard . However, he went bankrupt trying to ship grain to the coast. While in Canandaigua debtors' prison , Hawley began pressing for the construction of a canal along the 90-mile (140 km)-long Mohawk River valley with support from Joseph Ellicott (agent for

16899-456: Was settled by English Puritan separatists, known today as the Pilgrims . The Dutch, Swedish, and French also established successful American colonies at roughly the same time as the English, but they eventually came under the English crown. The Thirteen Colonies were complete with the establishment of the Province of Georgia in 1732, although the term "Thirteen Colonies" became current only in

17030-755: Was successful in constructing five locks which took boats 4,500 feet (1,400 m) past the Potomac Great Falls. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal superseded the Potomac Canal in 1823. Christopher Colles (who was familiar with the Bridgewater Canal) surveyed the Mohawk Valley, and made a presentation to the New York state legislature in 1784 proposing a canal from Lake Ontario . The proposal drew attention and some action but

17161-432: Was to dig a watertight ditch 6–8 feet (2–3 m) deep and provide it with water and make annual repairs for ice and freshet damages—even though the cost per ton mile on a canal was often cheaper in an operational sense, canals couldn't be built along hills and dales, nor backed into odd corners, as could a railroad siding. On the settled eastern seaboard, forest decimation created an energy crisis for coastal cities, but

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