428 America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans

428 America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans

In the 1820s, American entrepreneurs, engineers, and politicians dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal, not through Panama, but through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. Their goal: To link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and transform global trade forever. But what inspired these ambitious "canal dreamers?” And why did they believe Nicaragua held the key to controlling the future of commerce? Jessica Lepler, Associate Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire and author of Canal Dreamers: The Epic Quest to Connect the Atlantic and Pacific in the Age of Revolutions, joins us to explore this nearly forgotten story of innovation, illusion, and international ambition in early American history. Jessica’s Website | Book Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/428 EPISODE OUTLINE00:01:00 Introduction00:04:05 Desire to Build a Canal Across Central America00:08:01 Political Landscape of Central America During the 1820s00:09:55 Creating a Stable Central American Government00:11:55 Geography of the Nicaraguan Canal Route00:16:03 Economic Opportunities of an Interoceanic Canal00:17:57 Individual vs. State Interest in a Nicaraguan Canal00:21:58 Why Americans Sought A Private Canal Contract00:26:44 Information Canal Dreamers Relied On to Build a Canal00:33:12 Competitive Advantages of American Canal Dreamers00:35:40 American Surveys of a Central American Canal Route00:39:12 Influence of the Erie Canal00:42:32 Why the Nicaraguan Canal Failed00:44:50 What Canal Dreamers Reveal About the Early United States 0046:40 Overview of the Panama Canal00:49:50 Time Warp00:56:00 ConclusionRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 028: Building the Erie Canal🎧 Episode 090: The Age of American Revolutions🎧 Episode 113: Building the Empire State🎧 Episode 165: The Age of Revolutions🎧 Episode 186: The New Map of Empire🎧 Episode 329: Freemasonry in Early AmericaSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaksot(492)

398 The Shawnee-Dunmore War, 1774

398 The Shawnee-Dunmore War, 1774

After the Seven Years’ War (1754-1763), Great Britain instituted the Proclamation Line of 1763. The Line sought to create a lasting peace in British North America by limiting British colonial settleme...

19 Marras 20241h 9min

BFW Revisited: World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 1

BFW Revisited: World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 1

It’s November, the time of year when we Americans get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. Although the federal holiday we know and honor today came about in 1863, Thanksgiving is a day that many moder...

12 Marras 202450min

397 Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

397 Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

The North American continent is approximately 160 million years old, yet in the United States, we tend to focus on what amounts to 3300 millionths of that history, which is the period between 1492 to ...

5 Marras 20241h 4min

BFW Revisited: Committees & Congresses of the American Revolution

BFW Revisited: Committees & Congresses of the American Revolution

Ben Franklin’s World Revisited is a series where Liz surfaces one of our earlier episodes that complements and adds additional perspectives to the histories we discuss in our new episodes. Given the ...

29 Loka 20241h 42min

396 Carpenters' Hall & the First Continental Congress

396 Carpenters' Hall & the First Continental Congress

“Monday, September 5, 1774. A number of the Delegates chosen and appointed by the Several Colonies and Provinces in North America to meet and hold a Congress at Philadelphia assembled at the Carpenter...

22 Loka 202444min

395 The Great New York Fire of 1776

395 The Great New York Fire of 1776

When we think about the American Revolution, textbooks, documentaries, and historic sites have trained most of us to think about American triumphs in battles or events when American revolutionaries ov...

8 Loka 202458min

394 The Pursuit of Happiness

394 The Pursuit of Happiness

What did Thomas Jefferson and the members of the Second Continental Congress mean when they wrote “the pursuit of Happiness” into the United States Declaration of Independence? And why is pursuing hap...

24 Syys 20241h 2min

393 Politics & Political Culture in the Early American Republic

393 Politics & Political Culture in the Early American Republic

The Constitution is a document of “We the People.” The ways Americans have supported, debated, and interpreted the Constitution since 1787 have played a vital role in the rise of politics and politica...

10 Syys 20241h 7min

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