428 America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans

Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

History, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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📫 [email protected] 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

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0:31.1	A world on fire. Nations collapsing, ideologies clashing, and ordinary men and women caught in the storm.
0:39.3	Hi, I'm Ray Harris Jr. of the History of World War II podcast,
0:43.2	and we'll cover the battles that shaped the war, from the deserts of North Africa to the frozen forests of the Ardennes.
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1:01.5	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
1:05.6	I mean, the idea of a Nicaraguan canal stretches back to the Spanish conquest.
1:14.1	16th century conquistadors are suggesting building a waterway. It's a pretty narrow stretch of land. It's like less than 20 miles between
1:20.2	the Pacific Ocean and Lake Nicaragua. It's also more level than Panama. So it's not about getting over giant mountains.
1:30.6	To 1820s, folks, the narrow land at the center of the world where the oceans could almost touch looked like an X marking a natural treasure.
1:40.7	But in the early 1820s, it was also an X when it came to information.
1:45.0	Very little was written about Central America, especially in English.
1:49.5	Writers who had mostly never been to the ifsmus relied on secondhand information to advocate
1:55.6	for three potential routes, which was a sort of Goldilocks of canal choices.
2:08.9	No. routes, which was a sort of goldilocks of canal choices. Hello and welcome to episode 428 of Ben Franklin's World, the podcast dedicated to helping
2:16.0	you learn more about how the people and events
2:18.7	of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in. And I'm your host,
2:24.0	Liz Covart. In the 1820s, bold men believed that they could slice through a continent and
2:29.7	control global trade. They imagined a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, not in Panama,
2:36.1	but through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. What inspired these Canal Dreamers to believe
2:41.9	this was possible? What does their story reveal about the ambitions, illusions, and geopolitics
	...

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