...professor of history and Political Science. He has been a faculty member at Penn College since 2011 and holds a doctorate in History from the University of Buffalo. In this speech he helped us access the responsibilities that are associated with technological innovation. To illustrate that “choices have consequences” Mr. Miller evaluates the technological, economic, environmental and cultural issues that surrounded the construction of railroads. In the beginning of the presentation he engaged the audience the same way as he challenges his students by making a real clear picture of what history teaches us by saying: “I am not here to teach you history. I am here to use history to teach you to be critical thinkers.” The presentation orbited around the construction of transcontinental railroads that served as a good connection for his statement “choices have consequences.” He revisits the challenges, costs, consequences and benefits of the railroads with an eye toward the present and future. Forcing us to examine the history of the transcontinental railway from all angles that helped to reveal the unintended consequences of historical choices we made earlier. And if we recognize the consequences it will help us to make informed choice. Miller basically forced us to think in a way that if a society realizes that the choices they made earlier had serious consequences, may be its just time for us to accept the uncomfortable truths and learn from them rather than being...
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... the Government sponsored expedited completion of the transcontinental railroad provided people the ability to travel faster and more safely. We saw that our leadership in general was subject to corruption and also, our leaders had to take note of the plight of the working man and make laws to improve their conditions. The efficiencies in the production of goods and the availability to provide those goods to the majority of the population led to changes in what kinds of work were available and who earned money. The opening of the West, via the transcontinental railroad, provided a much needed opportunity to the bulging population of the East, as well as a needed place for newly freed slaves to start new lives. The railroads did more than provide the opportunity for the population to expand. There was also a great opportunity to have goods be provided for a large market than the traditional local store. Due to the timeliness of the railroads as opposed to traveling via horse or wagon, manufactures could get their products to the masses, in mass. The packaging of those products also extended their shelf life, allowing them to make the journey on the rails. Improvements to the country’s transportation infrastructure, via the railroad, resulted in the populace travelling far to ‘colonize’ the once difficult to reach locations of the country. This railroad, dubbed the Transcontinental Railroad, was a project that many people, including the politicians...
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...hundred and fifty years ago, in building the first transcontinental railroad. The linking of the Atlantic east coast with the Pacific west coast by this Great Iron Trail fundamentally transformed the United States, and propelled into the greatest power in human history. When Leland Stanford and Thomas C. Durant, on May 10, 1869 (Williams 264), drove down that ceremonial last spike, a spike made of California gold, on the transcontinental railroad at the Promontory Summit, Utah, the history of the United States, and with it the history of this world, was forever changed. Among the engraving on 3 sides of the spike was the invocation “… May God continue the unity of our country as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world…” (Williams 266). Before that very moment, eight Chinese men, making the final preparation for the last spike of that historical railroad, had laid the final pair of rails. In the midst of fifteen hundred spectators of “every color, creed and nationality” (Williams 264), they appeared to be but a small and insignificant group. However this belies the role some 12,000 Chinese laborers (Calloway 144) had played in the preceding five years, from 1864 to 1869 that made this monumental iron and steel highway possible. From the continuous execution toward the Manifest Destiny, the California Gold Rush and opening of the West stimulated increased interest in building a transcontinental railroad. To this end, the...
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...trail to ship their cows. * Transcontinental Railroad: It is a railroad that transverse the whole continent. During the 1850s, many people are demanding for a better, more convenient and faster transportation, which can help the commerce between west and east. * Dawes Act: The US government wants to stimulate the assimilation. So it enacts the Dawes Act. It is a law distributing land to Indians individually. Which mains that the government began distributing land to individual. Individual has the rights to sell or own it. Beneath the layer of owns the land. Indians are losing their land because of selling. Moreover, they betrayed their tradition. * Homestead Act: Homestead Act was granted in 1862, because the government wants to encourage people settle in west. In the act, the government provides tracts, which are 160 acres of public land for a small fee and land to encourage people to work or live for five years. * Exodusters: It refers to those African American who migrated from the south to the Great Plains after the civil war. Many African Americans fled to search and find a better life. Some of them ahead to the west and became farmers. * Populist Party: It is a party established in 1892. It basically is requiring the government to enact new police to protect working people. Put in order and explain * Pacific Railway Act: It enacted in 1862 and 1863 Help promote the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Because during the 1850s, many...
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...importance of this geographic factor is not so much in the search for gold, though there is much to be said for the advances of mining techniques and the destruction that resulted. Rather, the importance is in the attraction of the gold itself, which lured so many people west, hoping to get rich quick, but instead settled down and built farms and churches and communities. San Francisco quickly rose as an international trade port, which brought economic growth to the area. A few merchants got wealthy selling tools and materials to prospectors, and over time built shipyards and textile mills, saw mills and ironworks. Wagon roads were built over the Sierra Nevada's and eventually a transcontinental railroad connected the Nation (Udall & Emmons, 2003 p157). The building of the transcontinental railroad may have been one of the greatest achievements of the American people during the nineteenth century. It was built primarily by Chinese and Irish immigrants and extended from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California (Ambrose, 2000 p17). These Irish Immigrants came to America as a result of the Irish Potato Famine, another significant environmental factor that led to the expansion of the United States. The famine brought over one million immigrants from Ireland to the United States between 1847-1857. These dispossessed immigrants came to the large cities on the East Coast, such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago,...
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...With the establishment of the railroad system during the industrial advancement in the 1860s, the movement west became a representation of civilization, introducing the beginning of a nation becoming one. In, The Transcontinental Railroad (AMAZING AMERICAN HISTORY DOCUMENTARY), the development of the railroad proved to be more complex and costly than had previously expected. However, the promise of an improved commerce brought hope that would motivate the continuation of the tracks, despite the obstacles faced. The potential of railroads was nothing new to the United States since they had already created success for cities in the east. Everyone wanted to be involved with the Pacific Railroad, including Theodore Judah a civil engineer, due to the realization that it would spark profit. With investments from Collis Huntington, a businessman, Mark Hopkins, Huntington’s business partner, Leland Stanford, a wholesale grocer, and the Crocker brothers, a merchant and an attorney, Judah was able to set off to conduct a survey of the land. Armed with maps and profiles Judah was able to obtain a bill from President...
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...that they do that is rare, valuable, non-substitutable and costly to imitate. In evaluating Union Pacific (UP) we were able to establish that their SCA was in their operations. Since there are limited competitors railroad operations are considered rare and without a doubt one of the most if not the most valuable part of running a successful railroad. In this industry there is no substitute for having an efficient and profitable operations and the reason there is limited competition is because it is very costly to imitate. When you put it all together having well running operation in place allows you to be successful; it allows you to make timely deliveries, increase volume, lower terminal time, repairs and most importantly make a profit. HISTORY UP was founded in 1862 and in that same year President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act, which chose UP as one of two companies to construct the first transcontinental railroad. UP was to build westward up the Platte River Valley from Omaha, Nebraska and the Central Pacific (CP) Railroad of California was to build eastward from Sacramento, the two met in Promontory Summit, Utah and upon completion in 1869 commemorated the event by driving a silver and gold spike. 1893 UP like many other railroads ran into financial problems and after being unable to meet its expenses was broken up and sold in 1897. On November 1, 1897 E.H. Harriman and a group of investors purchased the line from Omaha to Ogden for $110 million...
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...In the 19th century no railroad went further west than St. Joseph on the Missouri border. Several people advocated for the construction of a transcontinental railroad to increase trade and unify the country. Congress rejected the idea several times because of different obstacles. Finally, Theodore Judah drafted a plan the solved two of the problems with previous plans. He explained how to finance the railroad and found a route through the mountains. Theodore Judah went west and began to build the first railroad tracks in California in 1854. He hoped to one day connect his railroad to a transcontinental railroad. The Sierra Nevada Mountains, however, remained a massive obstacle. Eventually, he found a route that could take the railroad through...
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...American Experience, "Transcontinental Railroad" is about the Transcontinental Railroad that was known as the engineering marvel in the 19th Century. This railroad opened up new economies in the West of America. Many conflicts occurred with the labor force, between Theodore Judah and Charles Crocker before the railroad was even built. The Transcontinental railroad caused many problems from it being built and people trying to help for their own purposes. In the end it changed the lives of the Chinese, Mormons, Plain American Indian Tribes and American forever. In the beginning Judah came up with a plan on how to build the railroad but Crocker took that over once he realized the contracts that Abraham Lincoln gave them to build from the East...
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...In the 1800 there were tons of railroads but none of them connected the pacific ocean to the atlantic ocean. Tons of people tried to connected the pacific ocean to the atlantic ocean but there plans never came threw. In 1862 Abraham Lincoln signed the pacific railroad act. That's when they started building the transcontinental railroad. The transcontinental railroad would connect the two oceans. With the help from the central pacific railroad company and the union pacific railroad company they started the build for the railroad. Leland Stanford got a lot of credit for starting the build for the Transcontinental railroad. He was the president of the central pacific railroad company. His company would work west from Omaha Nebraska. The union pacific railroad company would work east from sacramento,california. The two companies worked at different side of the country and met together in the middle of the country to build the transcontinental railroad faster....
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...Railroad Essay The Northern Pacific Railroad has affected many things that we do today. It has shaped Washington into what it is. It has created countless technological advancements. It impacted and improved the businesses that make up Washington and most importantly it showed us the potential of the things we can do and opened many different pathways to the opportunities available today. It was built in 1864 thanks to Henry Villard who raised over 16 million dollars and was the president of the NPRR. It was mainly supported by the federal land grants where the government sold them cheap land within one square mile of the railroad. The railroad then continued to sell the land to other settlers, which is how they made most of their money to...
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...For much of America’s earlier history, there was only one oceanic coastline, the east remained vastly unsettled. This was due to many reasons, but more than anything it was due to the difficulty of journeying across unsettled, untamed land; there was no easier way than walking. Although there were existing railroads as early as 1830, there was no standardization between all the competing enterprises, nor was there any single unified track between numerous regions of the nation. It was not until May 10, 1969, the completion of the transcontinental railroad, that true unity was present across the country (The Pacific Railway). It may have been the same nation, but with the completion and expansion of the railroad, the west became a new land. The railroad connected seemingly two different parts of the world; material could be transported with ease, information could be actively shared from ocean to ocean, and people could easily migrate across the nation. This propelled economic...
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...The Transcontinental Railroad was the first railroad that spanned the nation from east to west. The railroad was comprised of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific railroad companies. Together these two railroads were able to bring the nation together, and the railroads contributed to the economic success of a growing nation. In 1839, the Corps of Topographical Engineers was created as a unit of the United States Army.[1] The purpose of this branch was to explore the continent with the hope of achieving the concept of manifest destiny. In 1853, Congress sent out a group of people to explore the west and to find a suitable route for a transcontinental railroad. However, there were other groups that went out on private expeditions. One of the members of this group was John C. Fremont, who made five major expeditions into the west.[2] Once California became a state in 1850, the government wanted to ensure that California did not break away from the Union.[3] One way to ensure this was to build a transcontinental railroad to provide transportation and communication between the eastern and western states. Since an effective route for the railroad had not been officially decided Congress appointed this job to Jefferson Davis, who was the Secretary of War, on March 3, 1853. Congress gave Davis the task of finding the potential route along four different lines of latitude. The people involved in the expeditions faced many problems including Indian attacks, long journeys...
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...industrialization, the building of the railroads, innovations in science, and the rise of big business. New products and technologies improved middle-class quality of life for Americans. The rise of the Gilded Age in American History helped the American economy long-term to this present day. Economic development in the United Sates was made through the impact of transportation innovations. The Gilded Age brought upon positive changes in America there was a demand of manufactured goods that increased, therefore, needing an efficient way to keep up with high demand. This brought upon the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic lines, which would be used for centuries to come. The Pacific Railway Act passed on July 1, 1862 provided what was needed for the construction for this production. In the act it states: The question of "internal improvements" was constantly before Congress in the 19th century: Should Congress assist in improving the country’s transportation system? One such improvement was the dream of constructing a railroad that would cross the entire country. Railroading became a highly profitable business venture during this time period. The expansion of the railroads meant that goods and products could be more easily exported around the country and helped the progression of manufacturers selling those goods. The railroads made a broader variety of goods possible for people to obtain. Railroad because allowed people to get...
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...• The government wanted to gain wealth from the natural resources and land in the West. • The Transcontinental railroad was a major motivation for the government to encourage settlement (need builders, workers, farmers, etc. out there) • People of all classes, race, and background were enticed to head West in search of a new start and to increase their wealth. • In particular, farmers, miners, and ranchers made up the majority of the people heading west. Why these professions? • Homestead Act: This act gave away free land to individuals and family willing to migrate West and stay there. The downside was most land had few resources on it. • Many settlers build their homes out of parts of their wagon and dirt/sod. • The railroads were vital in...
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