Overall Impact of the Erie Canal

The impact of the Erie Canal on the U.S was it gave the country a new cheaper, quicker, and more popular form of transportation. The Canal was something nobody had ever seen before, it allowed people to explore the West and start new lives. It also helped grow business and allow businesses to spread all throughout the West, transporting goods at a cheaper cost compared to land. The impact was positive. It did have some down sides, like conveying different diseases or sometimes flooding but overall it gave the U.S. a new way of interacting both socially and economically. This was probably the biggest cause of westward expansion because it was that convenient. Families could literally just hop on the canal and travel west to start a completely new life. They were allowed the chance to start over and because the Erie Canal made transportation so easy, most of the people accepted the offer.