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Discussion Questions On The Transcontinental Railroad

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Leah Kurland 5/7/18 US-1/CPE Transcontinental Railroad Focus / Comprehension Questions (14 pts) Directions: Read the handout , watch the video clip and answer the following questions in complete sentences, including a proper topic sentence. Post your responses to the Schoology drop box provided. Video Notes: - Great plains → vast; untouched - Takes 6 months to cross - Lincoln signs transcontinental railroad into effect; 2,000 miles long - The Union Pacific starts from Omaha - Central Pacific starts in Sacramento - They meet in Utah; promontory point - Government doesn’t have enough money; pay companies in federal land - Must dig through the mountain; use Chinese laborers for the most deadly jobs - Use an explosive to demolish …show more content…

Discuss President Abraham Lincoln’s involvement in the transcontinental railroad. President Abraham Lincoln became involved in the transcontinental railroad when he signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862. “Lines from Chicago would be extended out to Omaha, Nebraska.” ( 3. Explain how the railroad was funded. The railroad was funded by government loans and the companies were paid in federal land, since the government did not have enough money. 4. What groups provided labor for the railroad’s construction? Describe the role of Chinese workers in its construction. The Chinese provided a majority of the railroad’s construction. Their role was to blast the rocks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in order to create a path for the railroads. 5. Explain why Native Americans were angered by the transcontinental railroad. Native Americans were angered by the transcontinental railroad because they were there before the whites arrived. Once built, the railroad would be trespassing across their main hunting spots. 6. Identify the place where the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads met. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific met at Promontory Summit to finish the final part of the track. The Union Pacific started in Omaha, Nebraska and Central Pacific started in Sacramento,

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In the map below, retrieved from Wikipedia, this is illustrated. This connection route was over 10,000 miles long, it stretched over 13 states. Its size was extremely important for its time, it was one of the first. It had 75 locomotives, 2000 freight cars, and 100 passenger carts. It offered more than $30 million in assets.

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Kellen Green HIST 4305 Dr. Driver 9 October 2014 White, Richard. Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print. Richard White in his book, Railroaded, writes about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and all of the people, events, and influences that made this construction so controversial.

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The railroad was first designed by George Stephenson whose original idea was to use steam to run the train and make transportation faster. When the US started using railroads and trains they purchased them from the Stephen Works company from Britain. “In the 1850s a boom in railroad development across the North was changing business organization and management and reducing freight costs. Railroads were influencing a rise in real estate values, increasing regional concentrations of industry, the size of business units and stimulating growth in investment banking and agriculture.

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SIOUX SMOKE SIGNAL This is Screaming Horse of the Sioux tribe writing for the Sioux Smoke Signal. Today we are talking about how the Transcontinental Railroad affected our Native American way of life. The Transcontinental Railroad has disturbed our way of life. They took our land and, thanks to the Dawes Act, moved us to crowded reservations so they could make the railroad.

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In 1862 Miners began to invade the rocky mountains and plains, clashing with Indians, the Lakota Siox massacre or capture 1000 people on the Minnesota Frontier. John Henry goes to the mine to get money for his family in a time of need. The captain tells John Henry that the mountain is caving in but John tells him that its just his hammer suckin wind.

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The Central Pacific had their troubles with progressing their track through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Often dealing with the harsh environment, weather and blasting tunnels through the dense rock with gunpowder and nitroglycerine. On May 10, 1869 in Promontory Summit Utah, a golden spike was driven into the last tracks that connected the East and West coast. The completion of the railroad system opened many doors for our Nation and built the “arteries of America” in which it grew economically and financially. (History.com Staff,

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In 1694, Thomas Savery invented what would revolutionize the united states indefinitely, he called it the steam engine. This invention lead to the first steam engine locomotive which many would say was a beneficial turning point in the industrialization of america’s economy,allowing the steam engine to be used on the railways. Although the railroads did impact the United States and certain groups in positive ways,there were also negative effects that occurred. During this time period, there were many chinese immigrants that entered the United States who made up most of the workers that built the tracks.

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Because of the rapid settlement of the western land in the 1850s, Congress wanted to enforce a transcontinental railroad to replace America’s current weak transportation system—horse-drawn carriages were still used and soldiers often had to walk. But due to the constant competition between the Northern members and the Southern

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Each railroad company got one side of the country. The Union Pacific got the East side of the country, starting at Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific got the West side of the country, starting at Sacramento, California. Both companies joined tracks on May 10, 1869 in Promontory Point, Utah. During the time of the building, The Civil War

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In 1862, the plan got financial backing from the Pacific Railway Act. Both Central Pacific and Union Pacific received grants and subsidies from the government. Beyond the abundant support from the government, the need for the transcontinental railroad was obvious. To hold the

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In 1862, The Central Pacific Railroad and The Union Pacific Railroad Companies started to build the Transcontinental Railroad. The government called it a “Great Race” between the two companies. The goal was to see who could cover the most land

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In between California and the rest of the country were the Great Plains which were not heavily populated so there was no easy way of trade and transportation to the growing western territories. A group of men called the “Big Four” which consisted of Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, decided what the country needed was a transcontinental railroad. Their company, The Central Pacific Railroad company would hire 15,000 Chinese men to work on constructing the railroad due to the fact that they would work for less than the average American. This made transportation cheaper and quicker than ever

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On May 10, 1869, one of the most compelling frontiers in the history of transportation transpired. The building of the transcontinental railroad heralded a new era in transportation in the country. Together, Union Pacific and Central Pacific, two rival railroad firms, built the well-known route in just under seven years with the aid of the government. The development of the United States transcontinental railroad played a vital role in the West's urbanization and growth. The driving of the Golden Spike in 1869 marked the end of seven years of construction that employed thousands and cost millions of dollars.

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With the advent of the railroad, many of these issues disappeared. Railroads had a major impact on advancing the American economy, transforming America into a modern society, and improving an antiquated transportation system. The building of railroads created rapid economic growth in America. Railroad companies employed more than one million workers to build and maintain railroads. At the same time, coal, timber, and steel industries employed thousands of workers to provide the supplies necessary to build railroads (Chapter 12 Industrialization).

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