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The transcontinental railroad bartelby.com
The transcontinental railroad bartelby.com
The transcontinental railroad bartelby.com
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A little friendly competition has fueled America long before this generation. On July 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln brought the Transcontinental Railroad to life. Two unions: the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific were to battle to find out who could reach the middle of the United States of America the fastest while building a railroad that would connect the East Coast and the West Coast. The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific were both granted financial aid from the government to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Both the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific would have to overcome obstacles to make this vision a reality. Everyone knew that this railroad would aid America in travel and commerce. The construction of this railroad was one of the United States’ greatest accomplishments technologically and also proved that with determination and money, anything could be accomplished. The Unions broke ground in 1863 in the midst of the Civil War. During this time of turmoil, America needed something profound to focus their attention on. While soldiers were away fighting a...
Two railway companies competed in this venture: The Central Pacific company laid track eastward from Sacramento, California and at the same time The Union Pacific company began laying track westward from Omaha, Nebraska and when the two lines met, the transcontinental railway would be complete. Each company wanted to cover more ground than the other – not just out of pride and competitiveness, but ...
The Union Army was able to match the intensity of the Confederacy, with the similar practice of dedication until death and patriotism, but for different reasons. The Union soldiers’s lifestyles and families did not surround the war to the extent of the Confederates; yet, their heritage and prosperity relied heavily on it. Union soldiers had to save what their ancestors fought for, democracy. “Our (Union soldiers) Fathers made this country, we, their children are to save it” (McPherson, 29). These soldiers understood that a depleted group of countries rather than one unified one could not flourish; “it is essential that but one Government shall exercise authority from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific” (Ledger, 1861).
Abraham's connection to the railroad systems allowed his army a large advantage during the war. The amount of track in the North completely overpowered the Souths length of track. At the beginning of the war the North had already built about 22,000 miles of track while the South had only built about 9,000 miles. Not only did the North have more track but it had been more strategically placed, so this meant that most of the Northern railroads were connected with other track systems. This meant that if the South took out part of the Norths track the North could still quickly get to their destination. Lincoln also had private railroad companies allow him access to their track and to the trains they were manufacturing to help with the war. As a result of this Lincoln took control of railroad systems to help him win the war. Baldwin Locomotive Works also built 500 engines for Lincoln to use in the war. With the railroad Lincoln sent troops longer distances in a fraction of the time t...
As shown in the photo above, on April 28th, 1869, the final ten miles of track were laid in an astonishing twelve hours. On May 10th, 1869, The Central Pacific Railroad met and connected with the Union Pacific Railroad in Promontory, Utah to complete the first transcontinental railroad after building 1,800 miles of new track.
It has been said that the union work is one struggle after another, but union work also is the most rewarding legacy we can leave our children.
More confederates than unions were illiterate due to the fact that most held professional or white-collard jobs (36). To make the Union soldiers sample fair sense most blacks couldn’t read or write, 2 who could were included in the sample (36). The levels of patriotism differed from the upper and lower south given to the fact that the upper south were mainly cotton states. The confederates felt as if it was a “rich mans woar but the poor man has to do the fifting” (16). The confederates were mainly fighting for “independence, property and way of life” (27). Some characteristics the soldiers had in common were McPherson’s calculations for the Union. He came to seeing that out of 562 Union soldier’s letters read only 67 percent voice strong patriotic motives. This is the same as the two-thirds of Confederates. As a result from reading McPherson’s book, research showed that the Union and Confederate soldiers expressed about the same degree of patriotic and ideological convictions. Even though they both had different reasons for fighting the levels of sincerity and dedication in their notes were
As the Civil War ended, according to Norton et al., America was a nation in need of “healing, justice, and physical rebuilding” (465). The war had left
Railroads first appeared around the 1830’s, and helped the ideas of Manifest Destiny and Westward expansion; however, these were weak and didn’t connect as far as people needed, thus causing them to be forced to take more dangerous routes. On January 17th, 1848, a proposal was sent to Congress by Asa Whitney to approve and provide federal funding...
Union affiliation was first seen in the 1600’s when the roots of the United States were just being planted with skilled trade groups such as artisans, laborers, goldsmiths and printers. Over the next two hundred years, unions developed their desires for higher wages through the use of strikes and protests. The nation’s progress spurred the need for more labor and so began the Industrial Revolution. During the Revolution, many union members began to witness the power that employers had and as a result decided to make use of the concept of power in numbers. The National Labor Union formed in 1866 and worked to persuade congress to set a Federal eight-hour workday, which applied to government employees (Miller). Many large unions formed following in the NLU’s footsteps and uni...
Many other farming machines were also developed during this time period, they all made farming in the west much more popular, easier, and profitable. The Trans-continental railroad was started in 1862, even though other trains were already running in different parts of the U.S. The telegraph also went up along with the railroads, although the first time it was used was in 1844. All four of these major technological advancements have helped the United States really get going on their Manifest Destiny. The economy would also blossom during this expansion.
The unions were limited prior to the Civil War, there were limited efforts to establish a union by organized workforce at any scale, due to the lack of understanding of what a union represented. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the people who worked in rural settings, like the farmers faced deplorable conditions by working longer hours and were paid low wages. Women and children were paid very low wages, as well as men who barely made enough to live on or provide stability for their family. Business owners didn’t want fair pay for a decent day of work, company owners just wanted to exploit workers, men, women, children to work beyond eight hours a day, for low wages and no voice of opinion to anything.
New York City at the time of the Civil War can be explained as a small roaming forest fire with the potential to cause an exponential amount of damage, not only to the city but the Union. The city, in a state of constant turmoil over a great many things; race, class, politics, and a constantly diminishing amount of available employment opportunities for it’s 800,000 citizens. The riots, which took place in New York between July 13 and July 17, 1863, are called by most, the “New York City Draft Riots.” When in all actuality the enactment of the draft was simply the catalyst to the already engulfing issues that had plagued and divided the city among lines of every distinction. The events over these five days are still widely viewed as the most destructive civil upheaval in terms of loss of life and the “official” number of those who gave their lives in those five days is estimated around 119.
After America acquired the West, the need for efficient transportation heightened. Ideas circulated about a railroad that would spread across the continent from East to West. Republican congresses ruled for the federal funding of railroad construction, however, all actions were halted for a few years on account of a war. Following the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the race to build transcontinental railroad began in 1866. Lincoln approved Pacific Railway Act of 1862, granting two railroad companies the right to build the first American transcontinental railroad, (Clark 432).
The paper will discuss minicases on ‘The White-Collar Union Organizer’ and ‘The Frustrated Labor Historians’ by Arthur A. Sloane and Fred Witney (2010), to understand the issues unions undergo in the marketplace. There is no predetermined statistical number reported of union memberships in this country. However, “the United Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) excludes almost 2 million U.S wages and salary employees, over half of whom are employed in the public sector, who are represented at their workplaces by a union but are not union members. Not being required to join a union as a condition of continued employment, these employees have for a variety of reasons chosen not to do so. Nor do the BLS estimates include union members who are currently unemployed” (Sloane & Witney, 2010, p.5). Given this important information, the examination of these minicases will provide answers to the problems unions face in organizational settings.
The Transcontinental railroad could be defined as the most monumental change in America in the 19th century. The railroad played a significant role in westward expansion and on the growth and development of the American economy (Gillon p.653). However, the construction of the transcontinental railroad may not have occurred if not for the generous support of the federal government. The federal government provided land grants and financial subsidies to railroad companies to ensure the construction. The transcontinental railroad contributed to the formation of industry and the market economy in America and forever altered the American lifestyle.