The Transcontinental Railroad And Westward Expansion Essay example --

The Transcontinental Railroad and western hemisphereward ExpansionThesis The transcontinental railway greatly increased westerly expansion inthe United States of the States during the latter half of the nineteenth century.The history of the United States has been influenced by England in many ways.In the second half of the 1800s, the force, which was invented in England,had a major effect on Western expansion in the United States."Railroads were innate(p) in England, a country with densepopulations, short distances between cities, and large-mouthedfinancial resources. In America there were differentcircumstances, a tenuous population in a broad country, largestretches between cities, and entirely the smallest amounts ofmoney." ("Railroad" 85)The prototypic American railroads started in the 1830s from the Atlantic ports ofBoston, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Charleston, and savannah(Douglas 23). Within twenty years, four rail lines had crossed t he Allegheniesto reach their death on Western Waters of the Great Lakes or the tributaries ofthe Mississippi. Meanwhile, other lines had started West of the Appalachianmountains, and by the mid-1850s Chicago, St. Louis, and Memphis were connectedto the eastside. Still other lines were stretching Westward, beyond the Mississippi.An foreign route connected New England and Montreal and another onecrossed gray Ontario between Niagara, New York, and the Detroit River.During the 1850s, North and South routes were developed both East and West ofthe Alleghenies. It was not until after the Civil War, however, that a permanentrailroad bridge was constructed across the Ohio River. After the Civil War, thepace of railroad create increased. The Pacific railroads, the Union Pacific build from Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific building from Sacramento,California, had started to build a transcontinental railroad during the war tohelp enhance national unity. They were joined at Promonto ry, Utah, on May 10,1869, completing the first rail connection across the continent.Before the transcontinental railroad, the Eastern railroads had lines rillonly as far West as Omaha, Nebraska. The Western railroads had a few linesrunning North and South in California, far West of the wall of the Sierra NevadaMountains. In between these two networks was a huge gap of about seventeenhundred mi... ...chedby wagon, which would have demoralised many if not most of the settlers going tobecome farmers. Unlike the cash miners of the earlier years, the farmers did notdream of getting rich quickly. They wanted to be self-sufficient, and they feltthat the land on the Prairie could help them do it. The railroad was anunbelievable catalyst in the population of the Mid-West and without it the areamight still be sparsely populated. The transcontinental railroad proved itsworth and had a horrifying impact on westward expansion. "In less than thirtyyears after the Civil War, all across th e enormous gap spanned by the railroad,the home(a) was being conquered and domesticated." (Cooke 240)BibliographyCooke, Alistair. Alistair Cookes America. New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.Douglas, George H. All Aboard The Railroad In American Life. New York ParagonHouse, 1992.Horn, Huston. The Old West The Pioneers. New York Time-Life Books, 1974.Merk, Frederick. History of the Westward Movement. New York Alfred A. Knopf,1978."Railroad." Comptons Encyclopedia. 1990 edition."United States of America." The New Encyclopdia Britannica. 1990 edition.