Washington Goes Bad

George Washington is regarded as one of America's foremost statesman, a man who embodied numerous admirable traits for which he is remembered today. He was, among other things, a brilliant general, president, diplomat and real estate enthusiast, yet Washington was also a renowned canal connoisseur. As a founding member of the Patowmack Company, Washington long dreamt of building a canal connecting the Potomac River to the west, providing a means of economic transportation for settlers striking out into new territory. Yet the great Washington, in his efforts to raise money for this daunting task, committed what could be considered an act of treason: He facilitated the signing of a treaty between Maryland and Virginia granting him aid in financing the building of his canal, an act which was illegal even under the lose structure of the Articles of Confederation. Peter Bernstein, author of "Wedding of the Waters" uses this example to emphasize the importance of canals to the expansion of the American west. While his main concern is the building of the Erie Canal, he uses this particular event to show how important a canal to the west would be, so important in fact, that it would drive one of the most morally sound Americans who ever lived to commit an act of treason against his country! The Erie Canal would eventually, upon it's completion and in the years to follow, turn American into the "empire" state, and its connection to the Hudson had profound effects on the development of the river and the region surrounding it. Many taunted the original idea, but if the world only knew how far Washington had gone some years earlier to achieve the same result, perhaps it would not have seemed such an outlandish idea after all.