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The transcontinental railroad bartelby.com
The transcontinental railroad bartelby.com
Thesis on transcontinetal railroad
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After America acquired the West, the need for efficient transportation heightened. Ideas circulated about a railroad that would spread across the continent from East to West. Republican congresses ruled for the federal funding of railroad construction, however, all actions were halted for a few years on account of a war. Following the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the race to build transcontinental railroad began in 1866. Lincoln approved Pacific Railway Act of 1862, granting two railroad companies the right to build the first American transcontinental railroad, (Clark 432). The transcontinental railroad would eventually become a symbol of much-needed unity, repairing the sectionalism that had once divided the nation during the Civil War. The construction of the transcontinental railroad was also an extension of the transportation revolution. Once commodities such as gold were found in the western half of America, many individuals decided to move themselves and their families out west in search of opportunity. Not only did the railroad help to transport people, but it also it allowed for goods to be delivered from companies in the east. In the end, the American transcontinental railroad created a national market, enabling mass production, and stimulated industry, while greatly impacting American society through stimulated immigration and urbanization. During the reconstruction of America after the Civil War, the government allocated land grants and premiums to encourage work on the railroads, which proved effective. However, such incentives led to a questionable quality of work. Land donations and loans offered to both companies would eventually become profitable with the addition of railroad tracks running through, and the la... ... middle of paper ... ...ortation: The Emergence of Mechanized Systems. Hofstra University, 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. Meyer, David R. The Roots of American Industrialization. N.p.: JHU, 2003. N. pag. Google Books. JHU Press. Web. 29 Sept. 2013 Seavoy, Ronald E. "Railroads." An Economic History of the United States: From 1607 to the Present. New York: Routledge, 2006. 188-200. Print. Spearman, Frank H. "The First Transcontinental Railroad." Harper's Monthly Magazine, Volume 109 2011: 711-20. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. . Stanley, George E. "The Rise Of Manufacturing." The Era of Reconstruction and Expansion (1865-1900. N.p.: World Almanac Library, 2005. 20-21. Google Books. World Almanac Library. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
When time came to build the transcontinental railroads, the government had given about 150 millions of acres of land for the railroad development, which would greatly influence transporta...
In Henry George’s article, What the Railroad Will Bring Us, it discusses the main social, political, and economic transformations that the trans-continental railroad would bring to the state of California. More importantly, he discusses not only the benefits, but also discusses the major drawbacks with the arrival of the railroad. Henry George stated the railroad would be the “greatest work of the age” (297). With a railroad stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, multiple benefits would be brought to the state of California. First, the railroad will not only create a new means of transportation across the United States, it additionally would also become “one of the greatest material prosperity” of its time (298). This means more people, more houses,
Through the period of 1865-1900, America’s agriculture underwent a series of changes. Changes that were a product of the influential role that technology, government policy and economic conditions played. To extend on this idea, changes included the increase in exported goods, the availability of products as well as the improved traveling system of rail roads. In the primate stages of these developing changes, farmers were able to benefit from the product, yet as time passed by, dissatisfaction grew within them. They no longer benefited from the changes (economy went bad), and therefore they no longer supported railroads.
WriteWork. "The 19th Century 'Railroad Boom.'" WriteWork . N.p., 1 May 2003. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.
Although not a natural resource, railroads were considered one of the key factors in almost every widespread industry. It allowed companies to quickly send products across the entire nation without using expensive and time-consuming caravans or wagons. Cornelius Vanderbilt was a prominent leader in the railroad industry at this time. He was already in his later years by the time the Gilded Age rolled around and didn't even get to see the uprising of some of the greatest leaders of the time. The railroad companies took advantage of their necessity by constantly overcharging customers, especially farmers. This led to one of the first labor unio...
Railroads first appeared around the 1830’s, and helped the ideas of Manifest Destiny and Westward expansion; however, these were weak and didn’t connect as far as people needed, thus causing them to be forced to take more dangerous routes. On January 17th, 1848, a proposal was sent to Congress by Asa Whitney to approve and provide federal funding...
Throughout the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the United States economy changed dramatically as the country transformed from a rural agricultural nation to an urban industrial gian, becoming the leading manufacturing country in the world. The vast expansion of the railroads in the late 1800s’ changed the early American economy by tying the country together into one national market. The railroads provided tremendous economic growth because it provided a massive market for transporting goods such as steel, lumber, and oil. Although the first railroads were extremely successful, the attempt to finance new railroads originally failed. Perhaps the greatest physical feat late 19th century America was the creation of the transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific Company, starting in San Francisco, and the new competitor, Union Pacific, starting in Omaha. The two companies slaved away crossing mountains, digging tunnels, and laying track the entire way. Both railroads met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869, and drove one last golden spike into the completed railway. Of course the expansion of railroads wasn’t the only change being made. Another change in the economy was immigration.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the invention of the automobile was still relatively new. Railways served as a primary means to transport commodities across America. However, before World War I and then again after, wealthy businessmen privately owned and controlled the operations of these railroads. The United States still recovering from the global conflict, noticed an upswing in the national economic markets, like the housing market, and needed to implement legislation to ensure railway service continued to increase commerce in America (Federal Railroad Administration, 2012). The Great Railway Strike of 1877 and the Pullman Strike of 1894 revealed nationally, the vulnerabilities of railroads systems due to stoppages relating to labor
From 1871 to 1900, about another 170,000 miles of railroad tracks were added. Congress approved the Pacific Railway Act in 1862. That authorized construction of a railroad from coast to coast. Counties were able to work together easier due to the less travel time; which created an interconnected society. The use of steam engines made it possible so people could travel further distances much easier than if they were using only horse drawn wagons. The Railroads also created jobs across the United States that aided in the building of cities and towns across the country. With the invention of the steam engine those living in large cities across the country were able to obtain goods faster than they had been able with only horse powered means. Whatever good the railroads did for the country it also was rough on those who built it. Living in railroad construction camps and Laying track was an extremely hard way to live and earn a living. Railroad construction crews had to lay tracks across and through mountain, across lakes and rivers. They also were subjected to extreme weather conditions. The railroad camps draw all types of rough and tough characters, almost all of whom were looking for ways to make easy money, illegally or legally. Living conditions in the camps were often very rough and crude. The federal government aided in the building of transcontinental railroads by land grants. Railroad companies
Lubar, Steven." Engines of Change: The American Industrial Revolution 1790-1860." Smithsonian Institution. http://www.si.sgi.com/organiza/museums/nmah/homepage/docs/engin10.htm ( 1986).
During the late 1700’s, the United States was no longer a possession of Britain, instead it was a market for industrial goods and the world’s major source for tobacco, cotton, and other agricultural products. A labor revolution started to occur in the United States throughout the early 1800’s. There was a shift from an agricultural economy to an industrial market system. After the War of 1812, the domestic marketplace changed due to the strong pressure of social and economic forces. Major innovations in transportation allowed the movement of information, people, and merchandise. Textile mills and factories became an important base for jobs, especially for women. There was also widespread economic growth during this time period (Roark, 260). The market revolution brought about economic growth through new modes of transportation, an abundance of natural resources, factory production, and banking and legal practices.
The growth of the Northern and Midwestern populations brought about the need for railroad system expansion. The need grew greater to connect the farm and grazing areas of the Plains states with the industrial northeast. In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act authorizing the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
"Railroads were the first big business, the first magnet for the great financial markets, and the first industry to develop a large-scale management bureaucracy. The railroads opened the western half of the nation to economic development, connected raw materials to factories and retailers, and in so doing created an interconnected national market. At the same time the railroads were themselves gigantic consumers of iron, steel, lumber, and other capital goods". (Tindall, Shi)
The agriculture, cattle, and sheep markets made many people large profits and, as with the stones and metals, relied on the railroad to bring the goods to the consumers. With the aid of the railroads there was an abundance of agricultural goods in the United States, “American commercial farmers, constantly opening new lands, produced much mor...
The mid 19th century was an age of growth like no other. The term “Industrial Revolution” refers to the time period where production changed from homemade goods, to those produced by machines and factories. As industrial growth developed and cities grew, the work done by men and women diverged from the old agricultural life. People tended to leave home to work in the new factories being built. They worked in dangerous conditions, were paid low wages, and lacked job security (Kellogg). It is difficult to argue, however, that the economic development of the United States was not greatly dependent on the industrial revolution.