Conclusion
The upper River Valley existed as a
great paradox in early America. On one hand, it was the heart of cultural and
economic growth in northern New England during the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries. On the other hand, it was a relatively isolated region
which retained much of the same character and tradition that had emerged during
its time as a frontier society. Although scholars have written of the period between
1750 and 1820, this was the time when development of the upper Connecticut
River Valley was most crucial to the development of New Hampshire. Whether or
not Daniel Doan’s description of life along the Connecticut River accurately
reflects its heyday as “comparable to that of the Mississippi,” there is no
doubt that the Connecticut River developed an identity just as distinctive as
that which would arise along the Mississippi later in the nineteenth century. [1]
Development
of the upper Connecticut River Valley occurred in three stages. The first took
place in the years before European contact, when the Abenaki inhabited the
land. The river’s fertile freshets supported an abundance of wildlife and
vegetation. The Abenaki took advantage of the length and breadth of the
Connecticut to establish vast networks of trade and communication. Though the native
population of the River Valley was small, its influence was wide.
Early Europeans who settled along the upper Connecticut
continued to utilize the river and its freshets in much the same way as the
Native Americans. Over time, the Europeans’ use of the river evolved to fit the
needs of the Old World, as opposed to the New World. New Hampshire was an
English colony, and England needed raw materials. In exchange for a steady
supply of natural resources, both imported and refined goods were made
available to the people of the Connecticut River Valley. Though it remained a
rural society on the edge of the New England frontier, it nonetheless established
and retained solid connections with the rest of the western world.
At
the height of its development and growth during the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, the upper Connecticut River Valley established itself as
an entirely unique and influential region of the newly founded United States.
Combining its identity as a rural community and its historic penchant for
building networks of trade and communication, the upper Connecticut River
Valley of New Hampshire became a foil for the rest of the anglicized world. It
clung to its heritage as an agrarian society, despite the market revolution
that was gradually converting centers of rural economy to societies of
consumers. The region relied on its farmers, craftsmen, and artisans to produce
goods for market, despite the industrialization of goods production in the rest
of New England. Not only was the river indispensible to the inhabitants of the
region, but the establishment of settlements, industry, transportation, and
communication along its banks helped it to become an anomaly in the history of
New England society.
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