A 



sophisticated commercial network 



Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, who later 

 became Napoleon's foreign minister, cast an objective 

 eye on the potentials of New York City in the late 18th 

 century. His projections for commercial success for the 

 city were proven true beyond his belief: 



Its good and convenient harbor, which is 

 never closed bi/ ice, its central position to 

 which large rivers bring the products of the 

 whole countrij, appear to me to be decisive ad- 

 vantages. Philadelphia is too buried in the land 

 and especialhj too inaccessible to wood of all 

 sorts. Boston is too much at the extremity of 

 the countrif, does not have enough flour, and 

 has not a large enough outlet for the commodi- 

 ties of the West Indies, except molasses. 

 But if anything acted like a catalyst to further insure 

 commercial preeminence of the state, it was the opening 

 of the Erie Canal in 1826. New York City became the 

 immediate outlet for upstate produce and for goods 

 coming from all the Great Lakes border states. It was 

 to the Canal that New York in great part owed its com- 

 mercial victory over Philadelphia. Dewitt Clinton was 

 the major force in the drive for the canal. Clinton, who 

 was governor while the canal was under construction, 

 went as far as devoting his personal funds to help build 

 the 363-mile canal between Buffalo and Albany. The 

 canal, which some referred to as "Clinton's Ditch," was 

 still luider construction when Clinton died— $6,000 in 

 debt. But he did not pass on unrecognized. In 1876 his 

 image was selected for the then new Federal tobacco 

 tax stamp and was part of every package of cigarettes 

 for the next 82 years. 



By 1850, New York City was distributing one-half of 

 all the tobacco produced in North Carolina and Virginia. 



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