Detail from "A geological and agricultural survey of the district adjoining the Erie canal . . .," printed by Packard & Benthuysen, Albany New York, 1824. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

CONTENTS

The next
Electronic Field Trip is

For Ready Money
January 10, 2008

Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal was the engineering marvel of the 19th century. When the planning for what many derided as "Clinton's Folly" began, there was not a single school of engineering in the United States. With the exception of a few places where black powder was used to blast through rock formations, all 363 miles were built by the muscle power of men and horses.

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This engraving is one of four inset images from an 1824 map showing a geological profile of the entire length of the Erie Canal. Built between 1817 and 1825, the Erie Canal opened a high-volume trade route linking the Atlantic coast with the Great Lakes.

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After the Erie Canal opened in 1825, traffic and commerce between the Great Lakes region and the Atlantic seaboard jumped significantly. Transit time between the interior and the east coast decreased dramatically, westward settlement increased, and the economy grew at the most rapid pace in American history. In this lesson, students learn about the Erie Canal, the people who used it, and its economic impact on the United States.

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Colonial Williamsburg offers a variety of quality instructional materials dealing with 18th-century life, including:

• Buying Respectability: The Consumer Revolution in 18th-Century Virginia (lesson unit)
• Earning a Living as a Tradesperson in Colonial America (lesson unit)
• Nancy’s Story: 1765 (book)
• If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days (book)

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MacNeil/Lehrer "Dialogues in Democracy" Delegates and Television Audience Post Blogs and Video on CW's New Web Site

More than 230 years after George Mason presented to the Virginia Convention in Williamsburg the hand-written document that would become the basis for the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Bill of Rights, Colonial Williamsburg and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions have initiated a worldwide dialogue about the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.

During the January broadcast, the television audience will be urged to visit Colonial Williamsburg’s new Web site, iCitizenForum.com, to participate in discussions about today’s issues of self-government through blogs, discussion forums, and You Tube-type user-generated content.

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Closed Captioning: Not Just for the Hearing Impaired

Closed captioned television officially became available in March 1980. Real-time captioning began in 1982, and today there are more than 14,000 hours of captioned programming each year. The television set in your classroom is most likely caption-friendly; you just need to turn it on! How can you use the advantages of closed captioning in your classroom?

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—Narrator of the Erie Canal
opening ceremony, 1825