Defining Progress in America To progress by definition means: to develop to a more advanced stage, or to move forward. As historians look back on certain events and happenings that have shaped America over the course of time, one of the main questions they consider is whether or not that particular event fostered progress in America. During the 19th century, a young America saw huge advancements in mobility and trade. These advancements in mobility fueled an expansion of commercialism in free and enslaved people alike. The Artificial River by Carol Sheriff and The Interesting Narrative by Olaudah Equiano give a prospective on the progress in trade and mobility in the 18th and 19th centuries that leaves the reader wondering whether or not America was really experiencing progress at that time. By focusing on these two novels, it will be shown that the increase in commercialism brought both valued benefits as well as unwanted repercussions to free and enslaved people alike, and that determining progress is not so straightforward. The objective then is to make sense of the ambiguities of progress rooted in mobility and trade for these two groups of people, and come to some assessment of whether or not America was indeed experiencing progress during that time period.The Artificial River covers the history of the Erie Canal from the digging of the first spadeful of Erie Canal dirt in 1817, through its successes and failures up to the year 1862. The construction of the Erie Canal brought many valued benefits that could be considered progress to the people involved at the time. The Erie Canal opened up new jobs, established a new mercantile class, reduced distance and time for transportation, increased tourism, expanded commercial agriculture, and in some cases became the source of great personal success and financial freedom for those who played their cards right. For some people, the building of the Erie Canal, and the resulting ex...
