Summary Of The Transcontinentals And The Making Of Modern America By Richard White

Kellen Green
HIST 4305
Dr. Driver
9 October 2014
White, Richard. Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print. Richard White in his book, Railroaded, writes about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and all of the people, events, and influences that made this construction so controversial. He argues that many factors especially corporate and political influences where the reason behind this inappropriate time and manner in which the transcontinentals were built. He states, “The war gave free rein to men willing to take command, to imagine great things, to innovate, to experiment, and to lose all hold on reality” (White, 3) I believe that this statement is a perfect example of his main argument and point. White’s argument is that due to political and corporate gains that many stood to benefit from the

White begins his book with discussing the extent of the railway system and the way it operated in time before the 1860’s, and the effect the Civil War had on the original inception of the idea behind the building of the transcontinentals. White writes about how the establishment of the transcontinentals affected people outside of the United States. The establishment of these railways scared politicians from the politicians in Canada and Mexico because it could lead to invasion or an establishment of a North American Empire. Beyond international concerns of expansion, the Native Americans were experiencing the expansion first hand by being kicked off of their own land in order to make way for the transcontinentals. White touches on how business monopolies and political corruption influenced land titles. One example of this is the how the “Blind Boss” and how he influenced the legislation that would gain him more land. White states, “The Blind Boss, Chris Buckley, had badly overstepped in the 1890 election. He betrayed the Democrats to