From organic to mechanical, the industrialization of time and of space, the history of transportation and the rise of railways during the Industrial Revolutions throughout Europe and America played an ever-important role in the way our perception of technology and our consciousness has changed and adapted to the learned behaviors of the mechanical and industrialized world. In Schivelbusch’s The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the Nineteenth Century one will find many key concepts on how technology has impacted the basic ideas of time and space, mechanical versus natural, progress and uniformity just to name a few. Prior to the mechanization of time, space, and transportation; the perception of the pre-industrial …show more content…
The railways opened up a broader range of where people were able to travel, they were able to embark on journeys much farther from home and faster than by other means known at that time. With the railroad sprouting and taking a route in England by 1836 time and space became to mean a different thing than it had in the 1700’s “With the increase in traveling speed came increases in the number of traveled routes, in traffic intensity and in the number of transportation …show more content…
The railway systems of the early industrial revolutions can be seen as one of the most progressive feats in history, it bridged many gaps, centralized transportation, created a technologically advanced society, brought about a new consciousness on how one should use and feel safe whilst using technology, introduced the perception that the mechanical aspect of life although daunting can outweigh the natural and organic. “ The railroad appeared as the technical guarantor of democracy, harmony between nations, peace and progress. According to them, the railroad brought people together both spatially and socially.”(Schivelbusch, pg 70) The railway system took on a more integrative meaning in the Americas, “the railroad served to open up, for the first time, vast regions of previously unsettled wilderness.” While also being seen from a different perspective than their European counterparts. Where the Europeans saw the railroad as a means to the end of the traditional culture they had fought long to preserve, the Americans had the out look that the railroad was aiding in their manifest destiny of “gaining a new
...s well as an export station. Railroads helped connect the West and make it less lonely than first impression would show.
To urban middle-class Americans of the late 19th century, nothing symbolized the progress of the American civilization quite as much as the railroad. Not only had the great surge in railroad construction after the Civil War helped to create a modern market economy, but the iron horse itself seemed to embody the energy, force, and technology of the new order. In fact, the fanning out of railroads from urban centers was an integral part of the modernizing process, tying the natural and human resources of rural areas to the industrializing core.
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,
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...
In order to detail the rise of railroads throughout this era of technological boom, it is important to understand the Industrial Revolution, which was the start of this success; it paved the way for major changes in the modern society we live in today. This is the period between the 18th and 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportatio...
The idea of Manifest Destiny was fresh in the minds of many Americans and politicians, and they wanted the United States to continue its expansion westward. In the early days of the trail, only daring and courageous traders crossed the Great Plains to Santa Fe, and their Native American encounters remained fairly peaceful, but after several years of use, large shipping businesses started to set up trading operations along the trail. This meant an even larger amount of newcomers to New Mexico and the surrounding lands. For many Native Americans living beside the trail, the added amount of newcomers was seen as a threat to their very livelihoods. As traders crossed the Native Americans’ lands, they often hunted and killed bison and other game that the Indians depended on for their food source. Later, as traders started buying large amounts of mules and other draught animals and transporting them back east to the United States, many Indians attacked the wagon parties and stole their goods and animals. Sometimes, the Indians would even kill members of the wagon party in their surprise attacks. In retaliation, some traders killed presumably innocent Native Americans that they encountered. With tensions still rising, military troops started the escort wagons crossing
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...
The transcontinental railroad would eventually become a symbol of much-needed unity, repairing the sectionalism that had once divided the nation during the Civil War. The construction of the transcontinental railroad was also an extension of the transportation revolution. Once commodities such as gold were found in the western half of America, many individuals decided to move themselves and their families out west in search of opportunity. Not only did the railroad help to transport people, but it also it allowed for goods to be delivered from companies in the east. In the end, the American transcontinental railroad created a national market, enabling mass production, and stimulated industry, while greatly impacting American society through stimulated immigration and urbanization.
The United States, as a young nation, had the desire to expand westward and become a true continental United States that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Various factors, strategic and economic, contributed to the desire to expand westward. According to John O’Sullivan, as cited by Hestedt in Manifest Destiny 2004; "the U.S. had manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence to the free development of our yearly multiplying millions" (¶2). As Americans ventured westward to settle the frontier, their inherent superior beliefs, culture and the principles of democracy accompanied them. America’s ruthless ambition to fulfill its manifest destiny had a profound impact on the nation’s economy, social systems and foreign and domestic policies; westward expansion was a tumultuous period in American History that included periods of conflict with the Native Americans and Hispanics and increased in sectionalism that created the backdrop for the Civil War.
In the late nineteenth century the expansion to the west increased the American culture. Since population was growing they needed to satisfy demands equally for every person. The idea of Manifest Destiny was used as a justification for the expansion and westward movement. Natives Americans were against the thought Americans had about the West. As a result Americans put a number of policies that helped remove the Natives Americans of the West. Americans were trying to destroy the culture Natives had.
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.
At the beginning of the industrial revolution in England during the mid-nineteenth century, the railroad was the most innovative mode of transportation known. The British Rail system was a forerunner in railroad technology, uses, and underground engineering. Though the rail system was extremely slow at first and prohibitively expensive to build and run, the British were not to be dissuaded in their pursuit of non-animal driven transportation. The most advanced mode of transportation prior to the introduction of the rail system was the horse drawn omnibus on a track, called a tram. This paper will examine the rail system from a cultural perspective, presenting the impact the railway had on everyday lives in Victorian London and its surrounding communities.
Manifest Destiny! This simple phrase enraptured the United States during the late 1800’s, and came to symbolize an era of westward expansion through numerous powerful entities. The expansion can be inspected though many different contextual lenses, but if examined among the larger histories of the United States, this movement can be classified as one of the most influential developments of the post-Civil War period. While very influential to the larger part of American history, the seemingly barbaric methods that were used conquer the western lands and their peoples took physical and economical forms that proved to be a plague upon the West.
Either we will let the “railroad” ride upon us, or we will not fall in the trap that society has. People think that society depends on humanity to survive. People use the insular mindset to think that if they didn’t use technology then it would not exist. The truth is that humanity wouldn’t be able to survive without it due to this world being based around it. This world is too dependent on technology, and it takes someone brave to detach from it and live life with the bare minimum. In Thoreau’s mind, the train symbolized everything wrong with humanity. They were greediness, ignorance, and destructiveness. The railroad was a path to nowhere and was also destructive. Thoreau meant for the railroad tracks and the train to be two different things. Each of them symbolized human qualities. Some good qualities that the railroad had was it brought people to new places, and have new thoughts. The materials that people benefited from the railroad were farmer’s goods, foods, books, and culture. He thought that bringing books into the train is good because people read them, but they should be writing their own books and focusing on their own thoughts instead of reading someone else’s work. Thoreau thinks these things are not needed because they distracted men from the pursuit of thought. Thoreau did not intend to be a hermit, however he valued solitude and wrote about the life in a cabin surrounded with
Phileas Fogg’s journey is made possible by the growing industrialization of the time. One example of industrialization is the extensive use of trains in the novel. During the nineteenth century, rail lines were expanding all over the world. For example, when Phileas Fogg reaches India, the change from old forms of transportation to new industrialized forms is described, “Formerly one was obliged to travel in India by the old cumbrous methods of going on foot or on horseback, in palanquins or unwieldy coaches; now, fast steamboats ply on the Indus and the Ganges, and a great railway, with branch lines joining the rail line at many points on this route, traverses the peninsula from Bombay to Calcutta in three days” (32). This demonstrates how the methods of transportation have become more advanced and industrialized throughout the century. Again, the industrialization of railways is shown when the party reaches America. “The journey from New York to San Francisco consumed, formerly, under the most favourable conditions, at least six months. It is now accomplished I seven days” (110). T...