Though nearly forgotten now as they have become largely obsolete in the face of rail and road, canals were for a time the end-all be-all of transportation technology, and the building of a canal could guarantee prosperity for the towns it traveled through. Hoping to get in on the game, the state of Indiana planned the Central Indiana canal, meant to connect the Ohio river to the already existing canal network And then everything went wrong.
Three classic episodes of The History Guy about how the Christmas season survives even tragedy.
The “Great Sedition Trial” uncovered shocking connections at the time with the German reich that we were fighting, and challenged the idea that the nation was of a single mind during the war. It also challenged exactly how far the national commitment to freedom of speech and opinion reached, especially in extraordinary times.