The railroads were the “engine” for economic growth and national unity because they made the transportation of goods and people much easier and quicker. People could begin to move into the rest of America with much less hassle, they could begin to move more comfortably and quicker. A journey that would take months had been shortened into something that could be taken within a few days. They were motivated by the fact that railroads lowered the rate of shipping things across the country by 60-70%; it was a cheap and proficient way to send products across very large and terrain and at any point in time throughout the year. They were formed to gain trade from the states not near any ports in the United States. They interconnected key industrial and agricultural areas with rural and less influential states. Railroads were low cost and guaranteed efficient and effective way to travel and ship objects within the United States. In the beginning the cost for a railroad was very high, so the government had to pay for them to be built and this strengthened the power …show more content…
Before people lived extremely close to each other and now they could move around and still keep in touch with the same people they would if they still lived in cities next door or across the street. People would not lose touch with their family and friends because they could easily come over to visit. Because the railroad was such an extensive network that interconnected major cities and towns, communication between people in cities and rural towns could communicate rather quickly with the standard of the time, mail had begun to be delivered by railroad. A sack of mail would be carried by train and then left at the stop it would need to be taken to I order to be distributed to the people it was intended to go to. This made communicating between the states and important personnel much