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Railroad System During The Gilded Age Essay

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During the Gilded Age, many fortunes were made by the railroad system. The increased construction of railroads provided the transportation of people, supplies, and trading goods. The movement of people from the east to the west allowed for increased populations and the spread of their culture. The railroad system provided a service that could quickly and cheaply move supplies across America. The Manifest Destiny was also fueled by the railroad system in the sense that Americans felt it was their duty to spread the knowledge and teach other races.
The railroad system during the late 19th century made people millionaires overnight. An example of unethical behavior was the Crédit Mobilier scandal. During 1872 to 1873, the stockholders from Pacific Railroad created Crédit Mobilier to accept contracts to build the railroad for the United States Congress. (History.com Staff, 2010).This led to the Congressmen using their position to get rich quickly off the taxpayers money (History.com Staff, 2010). Undoubtedly, Mark Twain thought about this scandal when he came up with the name of …show more content…

The issue of invading American Indian territory quickly became a problem. The new residents of the West also required food, which was quickly reducing the population of the American Bison. As stated by General Sheridan the buffalo hide hunters were “destroying the Indians’ commissary.” (Roark, James L; Johnson, Michael P; Cohen, Patricia Cline; Stage, Sarah; Hartmann, Susan M;, 2014). The Dawes Act created in 1887, divided Indian land and distributed it to individual Indians. This Act made the American government provide protected land to the American Indians and provide allotments (Roark, James L; Johnson, Michael P; Cohen, Patricia Cline; Stage, Sarah; Hartmann, Susan M;, 2014). At the same time, the Act caused the average Indian confined to a limited area and dependent on the

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