More handpicked essays just for you.
How railroads changed america thesis and introduction
The importance of railroads and transportation in industrial america
The importance of railroads and transportation in industrial america
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
William Chipley was a railroad tycoon. He saw promise in a little town called Pensacola. Pensacola had a problem, it was in a very good location but it was isolated from the rest of the state. Chipley and business partner Fred DeFuniak decided to build a railroad to connect with the prosperous Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Seeing the success of this. Chipley and DeFuniak went to congress to get approval to build from Pensacola to Tallahassee. This was no small endeavor. He needed roughly two thousand men to build this railroad and most of the land was uncharted territory. The men had to cut through wild Florida, all the while dealing with indigenous wild life. In less than two years time, the railroad finally completed Pensacola was ready
Looking at the early English colonies in the Chesapeake Bay region, it’s clear that the English had not learned any lessons from their experiences at Roanoke. Poor planning, a bad location, unrealistic expectations, flawed leadership, unsuccessful relations with the local Indians, and no hope of finding the mineral wealth the Spanish found in Mexico, all contributed to failure. The first colonists in the Chesapeake region were not only ignorant, lazy and unambitious, but their attempts were hampered before they had begun. However, a solution to these problems was found in a single plant: tobacco. Nevertheless, this cash crop ultimately created numerous problems for the colonists. The ignorance and indolent acts of the Chesapeake colonists to unsuccessfully restore the colony by themselves led to the demise of the colony as a whole especially regarding the planting of agricultural goods for food.
In Henry George’s article, What the Railroad Will Bring Us, it discusses the main social, political, and economic transformations that the trans-continental railroad would bring to the state of California. More importantly, he discusses not only the benefits, but also discusses the major drawbacks with the arrival of the railroad. Henry George stated the railroad would be the “greatest work of the age” (297). With a railroad stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, multiple benefits would be brought to the state of California. First, the railroad will not only create a new means of transportation across the United States, it additionally would also become “one of the greatest material prosperity” of its time (298). This means more people, more houses,
This had farmers in distress, for they were losing more money than they were making. Farmers’ incomes were low, and in order to make a profit on what they produced, they began to expand the regions in which they sold their products. This was facilitated through the railroads, by which through a series of grants from the government as contracted in the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, were made possible; which latter lead to the boom of rail roads in 1868-1873.... ... middle of paper ...
During the 1840’s and 1850’s America experienced its golden age in shipping and sailing.1 At the front of this era was Donald McKay whose innovative ship designs lead to the numerous sea speed records, some of which stand today. For most of the early 19th century American ship building consisted of merchant and cargo ships. It took a long time for these ships to sail across seas. With the increased speed came decreased time to wait for pay. Another need for increased speed was the California gold rush of 1849. People wanted to make the trip as quickly as possible in order to stake their claims. Donald McKay’s clipper ships enabled people to do that.
The transcontinental railroad was a 1,800 mile railroad linking Omaha, Missouri with Sacramento, California. This railroad was built through varying environmental conditions including grassy plains, desserts, and mountains such as the Sierra. The railroad revolutionized transportation in the nineteenth century (Galloway 4). The First Transcontinental Railroad was built in the 1860s in order to connect the Eastern and Western coasts of the United States. In the book The Railroads, statistical data describes that “In 1830, 23 miles of railroad track were being operated in the United States; by 1890 that figure had grown to 166,703 miles, as cities and villages were linked across the lan...
Just when the railroads start to be replaced with steel there isn't a huge demand for railroads. There are too many and not enough supplies to be transported. Rockefeller transports his oil on Scott's railroads but he has to take it off due to someone backing out on their word. Scott is unable to get back on his feet after the lose of Rockefeller's oil.
Andrew Carnegie had a partnership with Henry Frick, because Carnegie needed someone that could intimidate people. Henry Frick was successful raising Carnegies profit, but he ruined Andrews reputation in the process. Henry Frick did things a dirty way, he pushed his factory workers to the breaking point, and he didn't care at all about the work conditions. When Frick started to make lots of money, he opened a club for the wealthy on top of the South Fork Dam. Frick was racking in the cash and his partnership with Carnegie was the best thing for Frick. After the club was built, he lowered the dam and caused it to break and flood the town of Johnstown killing over 2,000 people. The
During the reconstruction of America after the Civil War, the government allocated land grants and premiums to encourage work on the railroads, which proved effective. However, such incentives led to a questionable quality of work. Land donations and loans offered to both companies would eventually become profitable with the addition of railroad tracks running through, and the la...
In The Artificial River, Carol Sheriff describes how when the digging of the Erie Canal began on July 4, 1817, no one would have been able to predict that the canal would even be considered a paradox of progress. One of the major contradictions of progress was whether or not triumphing art over nature was even considered progress. People were not sure during the nineteenth century if changing the environment for industrialization was necessarily a good thing. Another contradiction to progress that resulted from the Erie Canal was when people started holding the state government responsible for all their financial misfortunes. An additional contradiction to progress that the Erie Canal displayed was how many of its workers were either children, or men that lived lives that were intemperate and disrespectful to women. As American history students look back at the Erie Canal today, they generally only imagine how the canal was extraordinary for the residents of New York, but not all the issues and problems it also produced.
In 1839 a man by the name of John Sutter arrived in California. Sutter appeared to be somewhat of a drifter, and had failed to establish himself before arriving in California. However, in the land of great promise, he planned to establish an empire for himself. Sutter was granted eleven square leagues, or 50, 000 acres, in the lower Sacramento area. This was a common land grant for the times. Sutter got to work and began to improve his land. He went on to build a fort, accumulated over 12,000 cattle and hired hundreds of workers to hel...
Along with ruining relations with natives, America was losing too many people to the west. People kept moving west and there wasn't very many people in the east anymore. In document H, it states that "When he visited the country there were about 4,000 persons engaged in collecting gold"(page 6). This means that everyone was moving west to California because there was gold. This would mean that there are less people in the east working so things won't be completed as fast as they should. In document I,
There have been multitudes of people who have made drastic differences in the United States, but a key figure in History is Cornelius Vanderbilt. This self-made millionaire changed trade and transportation in the United States forever by building a railroad industry. Americans could travel across the country in less than half the time and buy products they could have never before. His railroad industry connected those in the north, south, east, and west in ways that were unprecedented. Cornelius Vanderbilt was one of the most influential and successful men during the Gilded age in America, because of his ruthless business tactics that accompanied him in building of the railroad industry in America.
There were some very important technological advancements that had occurred at that time, but advancement and growth do not happen overnight. Some people may even reject good ideas oblivious to the fact that they could actually be beneficial! Internal improvement debates had risen and bills pertaining to the infrastructure of the country were being proposed by the government, but, unfortunately, some of them were not passed. Three bills, if passed, would have provided the building of roads. Many of these bills were overruled due to fear of monopolistic activity of the government. People supporting the states' rights were against the government getting involved in the building of infrastructure. Many republicans were looking for ways to improve the transportation system. In 1816, John C. Calhoun sponsored the federal internal improvement plan which included the building of roads, and canals, but once again, the plan was vetoed because of president Madison. However, despite the fact that things did not go as planned for John C. Calhoun he was persistent and put the plan into action. The work of building roads was funded by private businesses, the state, and local government. Later on, in the early 1800s, railroads were in the making and the invention of steamboats had come about. Last but not least, the industrial revolution also played a role in the growth of the
It was the year 1850 and there was a young hungry couple trying to make a fortune. There names were Billy Bob Joe and Catherine. They lived in Tennessee and heard about the big ruckest in California over the goal. They were broke and poor so one day they just gathered up all the there things and realized they had nothing else going in there lives, so they had no other choice but to take the big risk. When they got there it was all ready really busy so they had to get to work right then. They grabbed a mining pan, a shovel, and a pick for mining that day they found a big chunk of gold. They found it in a place nobody was so they kept there mouth shut. Over the next couple of weeks they had way more then they even expected. Billy Bob was so happy
The beginnings of that life were sufficiently unpromising. The family was a good one, of old Virginia and Kentucky stock, but its circumstances were reduced, its environment meager and disheartening. The father, John Marshall Clemens--a lawyer by profession, a merchant by vocation--had brought his household to Florida from Jamestown, Tennessee, somewhat after the manner of judge Hawkins as pictured in The Gilded Age. Florida was a small town then, a mere village of twenty-one houses located on Salt River, but judge Clemens, as he was usually called, optimistic and speculative in his temperament, believed in its future. Salt River would be made navigable; Florida would become a metropolis. He established a small business there, and located his family in the humble frame cottage where, five months later, was born a baby boy to whom they gave the name of Samuel--a family name--and added Langhorne, after an old Virginia friend of his father.