The Transcontinental Railroad played a significant role in the settlement of the American West. As of May 10th, 1869, this railroad became the area’s newest and fastest mode of transportation. Its first obligation was to bring settlers in at very low cost, and, sometimes, even free of charge. The types of people that began to migrate West were those who were searching for a better life. One which contains less poverty and more opportunities. These individuals were eager to take advantage of the land being sold by the U.S. government at conveniently low prices. The abundant migration of settlers began to benefit this area in many ways. For starters, migration allowed the already existing industries to begin to thrive. The leading industries …show more content…
Many Native American tribes, including the Sioux, had been hunting and living off of the land long before the white man had arrived. Through the years, these tribes had claimed ownership over the land and were enraged when the settlers began to invade and demolish their land, killing their main source of food and clothing, the buffalo. To make matters worse, President Andrew Jackson enacted the Indian Removal Act which authorized the forcing of these tribes onto reservations in Oklahoma and elsewhere. But, some tribes, the Sioux in particular, fiercely resisted. Hostilities between the Native Americans and the white man were now more apparent than ever. Raids carried out by both sides took place often. These raids resulted in the destruction and burning of housing and supplies and often led to a loss of numerouos lives. These happenings occurred around the same time that Jules Verne’s novel, Around The World In 80 Days, took place. An excellent example within the novel that correctly portrays the Native American’s hostility towards the people that they see as invaders takes place while the group is traveling by rail to Omaha.” They then perceived that the train was attacked by a band of Sioux. This was not the first attempt of these daring Indians, for more than once they had waylaid trains on the road.” The white man treated the Indians very poorly taking their land and their main food source. In result, the Indians fought back, and when they did so, the whites did too with just as much force. This controversy’s source was the very same railroad that impacted the West in many beneficial ways. There are always negatives and positives when a transformation occurs. The westward expansion of the transcontinental railroad is a prime example. It has impacted the land in multiple ways, and helped to form the thriving economy that makes up the area
The Transcontinental Railroad The completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad was an important event in the United States history. There were many challenges in building it, but after it was finished, it connected the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast. The railroad took three whole years to build, with the help of two railroad companies and thousands of other hired workers.
In P. Neimark, & P. Rhoades Mott (Eds.), The Environmental Debate: A Documentary History (2nd ed.). Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/ghed/railroads_and_westward_expansion/0?institutionId=8703 Railroad History Time Line 1860. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2017, from
Lilly Fuller-Delmont 1/17/18 S.S8 DBQ Essay Per.3 In the mid 18th century settlers moved to the west. Their move brought them more opportunities and a better lifestyle on the frontier. Such as the transcontinental Railroad.
The Westward Expansion all started when America made the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. There were many benefits from the purchase for the US that the French didn’t realize before they sold it. The purchase gave the US access to the Mississippi river which allowed for expansion of river trade to the North and South from the center of the US. The port city of New Orleans was bought by the US and its prosperity benefited the US greatly. The US sent Lewis and Clark west to investigate the land they purchased.
The transcontinental railroad caused a lot of political impacts including uniting divided houses. In the 1850s, the greatest obstacle building the transcontinental railroad was the sectionalism in the American politics: between the North and the South. The biggest barrier in getting the railroad built in the mid-century in America is slavery. Congress had to make a decision whether or not slavery should be allowed in the new territory that was made easily accessible but the transcontinental railroad. Abraham Lincoln, the president, was less known as a great friend of the railroad.
Life for the Native Americans was much harder during and after the western expansion. For example, the US took land from the Indians leading the formation of reservations, White men almost hunted the Buffalo , an important food source for the Indians, to extinction, and forced the Indians to get rid of their culture. Because of the western expansion, the area of land the Indians could occupy decreased significantly. The government would make treaties with the Indians allowing them to keep a certain area of land, but this would soon be broken ; When the Pacific Railroad Act was passed it stated that wherever a track was laid the company would own any land 200 ft surrounding the track including Indian land ; the Government would make sure that
Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.
As the need for human transportation and various forms of cargo began to rise in the United States of America, a group of railroads with terminal connections along the way began to develop the land mass of this country, ending with the result of one of the most influential inventions in American history, allowing trade to flow smoothly from location to location, and a fast form of transportation, named the Transcontinental Railroad. America at this time consisted of overland travel and ocean travel. The journey all the way across the continent by land was risky and tough. It consisted of passing over mountains, plains, rivers, and deserts. It also was a very lengthy process.
“In 1820, about 58 towns more than 2500 inhabitants; by 1840, there were 126 such towns, located mostly in the Midwest and Northeast.” The fastest growth occurring in areas were near canals, railroads, and roads because of the easy access of raw and manufactured materials. Toward the later 19th century, the settlers began to move west for cheaper property because the land inhabited near the town built around transportation was getting
The Tremendous Impact of Railroads on America In the late 19th century, railroads propelled America into an era of unprecedented growth, prosperity, and convenient transportation. Prior to the building of the railroads, America lacked the proper and rapid transportation to make traveling across the country economical or practical. Lengthy travel was often cumbersome, costly, and dangerous.
During the late 1800’s, many settlers were expanding to the West and the Transcontinental Railroad helped them move from the East to the West. Some wanted to gain 160 free acres of land known as the Homestead Act. The Transcontinental Railroad connected the East and the West. The Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad were the companies that built the Transcontinental Railroad; however, the companies were run by greedy men and felt no guilt as they asked the government to pass special bills for them. The railroad cut through many lands and affected the Native Americans in a perilously way.
The Genocide: Trail of Tears/ The Indian removal act During the 1830s the united states congress and president Andrew Jackson created and passed the “Indian removal act”. Which allowed Jackson to forcibly remove the Indians from their native lands in the southeastern states, such as Florida and Mississippi, and send them to specific “Indian reservations” across the Mississippi river, so the whites could take over their land. From 1830-1839 the five civilized tribes (The Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chickasaw) were forced, sometimes by gun point, to march about 1,000 miles to what is present day Oklahoma.
Business owners made lots of money from the railroads because they were able to transport goods farther and faster with ease. Although the railroads tremendously impacted businesses and therefore the economy, the native americans were negatively impacted because the railroads were being laid on “their” land. This caused distrust between the settlers and the natives because of the “disrespect” for the land. Because of the new ways of transportation, the industrial revolution took place causing skilled artisans to be replaced by unskilled workers that used large complex machines.
The 1800s was a very eventful time for American history, consisting of the Industrial Revolution, Civil War, and arguably the biggest change in our society, the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. This extraordinary invention and design allowed for a lot of change in the U.S. This railroad truly paved the way for America’s future, and it instilled a strong sense of pride in the nation. The Transcontinental Railroad was a positive invention because it allowed for longer distance travel, and unified the nation; yet it could be seen as a negative invention because of the disaster it created for the Native Americans and the extermination of buffalo.
In between California and the rest of the country were the Great Plains which were not heavily populated so there was no easy way of trade and transportation to the growing western territories. A group of men called the “Big Four” which consisted of Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, decided what the country needed was a transcontinental railroad. Their company, The Central Pacific Railroad company would hire 15,000 Chinese men to work on constructing the railroad due to the fact that they would work for less than the average American. This made transportation cheaper and quicker than ever