The First Transcontinental Railroad

The First Transcontinental Railroad

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“May God continue the unity of our country as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world” (Mayer 213). This famous quotation was engraved on the gold spike that connected the two fragments of the first transcontinental railroad. It describes the significance of the railway to the rapidly growing United States. The transcontinental railroad was of tremendous importance to the development of the Union because it opened the western frontier to increased settlement and represented the growing integration of the country. It stimulated trade between east and west, and transformed the dormant frontier into an essential component of the Union.

A very different situation existed before the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The western region of the United States was almost completely separated from the east. Travel between the two regions was agonizingly long and difficult, and transportation of goods was costly and inefficient. There were three main routes that could be taken to travel from the east to the west. The first was an expensive four-month sea voyage around the tip of Cape Horn. The second route was the particularly challenging horseback journey through the malaria-infested swamps of the Isthmus of Panama. The final option was to travel across the US mainland by wagon, which a strenuous and lengthy expedition. The settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute, the acquisition of Mexican territory, the discovery of gold in California, and the spirit of manifest destiny were various motives that inspired people to undergo the journey across America. Many people soon believed that a transcontinental railroad would be enormously beneficial to the country. The bitter feelings between the North and South resulting from divergent economies, life styles, and opinions on the divisive issue of slavery needed to be resolved before attention could be concentrated on the transcontinental railroad. By 1860, the North and South had developed two very different economies. The primarily agricultural South relied on its chief crop, cotton, which accounted for a good deal of US exports. To produce cotton in such large amounts, the South depended on the plantation system, and thus on slavery. The North however, was an industrial giant and had no desire for slave labor. The South avoided industrialization and imported nearly all manufactured goods. Therefore, they vehemently opposed high tariffs.