Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Gigi Peterson, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Kevin Sheets, Ph.D.

Abstract

The traditional version of Adirondack history from the revolutionary period to the middle of the nineteenth century, which portrays the region as unexplored primeval wilderness, is nineteenth-century romantic mythology. It ignores thousands of years of Indigenous habitation and misrepresents early Euro-American activity in the region as well. In fact, from the earliest days of colonial exploration of North America until the middle of the 19th-Century, New York's Adirondack region was a dynamic American frontier, as important in shaping the destiny of the nation as the Northwest Territory or, later, the West. Activities in the Adirondack frontier contributed to the decimation of Indigenous populations, secured the outcomes of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, shaped America’s northern border, powered Manifest Destiny, changed the social justice landscape, contributed to the dominance of Federalist monetary policy, and much more. The United States of today is in no small part a product of the Adirondacks of yesterday.

One of the lesser-known aspects of the Adirondack frontier is its remarkable contribution to the evolving relationships between science, technology and engineering in a rapidly industrializing world. This thesis argues that from the end of the Revolutionary War until the middle of the nineteenth century, a conjuncture of borderless frontier dynamics, challenging topography, abundant mineral resources and the Industrial Revolution created a unique environment for technological development and innovation, with dramatic consequences for the nation.

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