Answer 4 of the 5 following prompts for your capstone assignment. Note: each prompt can be answered in a paragraph or two. 
1) The “How to Build a Cathedral” documentary and the Erie Canal project reveal that humans have long constructed remarkable buildings with differing levels of scientific and technical knowledge. Identify two similarities and one difference between the master masons who oversaw construction of the Gothic cathedrals in Britain and the engineering supervisors who oversaw the work on the Erie Canal. 
2) The Erie Canal has been called America’s first school of engineering. How successful do you think it was as a “school”? What would you identify as its major strengths as a school? What would you identify as its most significant limitations as a school?
3) Morrison claims that the building of the Middlesex Canal can be seen in one of two ways: (1) “a continual and almost systematic botching of a very simple process”; or (2) “as an exercise rather more remarkable than [landing a man on the moon]” (Page 29). Which interpretation do you consider more accurate, and why? Use three examples from the reading to explain your argument.
4) Choose one passage (1-3 sentences) from Jervis’s autobiography that you believe best captures the state of American engineering at the time (1815-1825). Explain why you think it is representative.
5) Identify three groups who could be considered winners as a result of the Erie Canal being completed (and state what each gained). Identify two groups who were made worse off by the completion of the Erie Canal (and specify in what ways their lives were disadvantaged).