Final answer:
The Saint Lawrence Seaway was officially opened centuries after French explorer Jacques Cartier navigated the St. Lawrence, with its formal inauguration taking place with modern engineering enhancements much later than the French colonial period.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Saint Lawrence Seaway, a pivotal maritime route that enabled ocean-going vessels to reach the Great Lakes, was not exclusively a product of the French colonial period or the time around the American Revolutionary War. It was much later, with technological advancements and a push for commercial supremacy, that the Saint Lawrence Seaway and its system of locks, canals and channels were officially opened. It was a major engineering feat that connected the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes.
The key historical developments tied to the St. Lawrence River and its use in trade stem back to the French colonial era. Jacques Cartier claimed the region for France and navigated the St. Lawrence as far back as the 1530s. The dream of a navigable waterway in the region, however, took concrete shape with the Erie Canal's successful operation, which was chartered in 1817 and opened in 1825. This demonstrated the value of inland water transportation and eventually led to the construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway centuries after Cartier's voyages.