How Did The Transcontinental Railroad Build Westward Expansion

The Transcontinental Railroad played a pivotal role in western expansion, making transportation from one end of the country to the other convenient and timely. However, the making of the Transcontinental Railroad affected many aspects other than transportation, such as: the Native Americans and their homeland, the economy of the U.S., and the citizens of America as a whole. Though the railroad can be credited with business growth and linking the country together, some of the events of building the acclaimed railroad adversely affected the country. The most effective way to prevent repeating the same mistakes is to review why they were mistakes in the first place. The Transcontinental Railroad brought conflict between the United States federal

citizens. When gold and silver were discovered in the west, thousands of people piled onto train cars and traveled westward in hopes of striking it rich. Indirectly, the railroad system made businesses for selling tools and equipment to the diggers possible. As well as the many people travelling to the west to get rich quick off of gold, others travelled west to sell supplies to these miners and earn a fortune off the boomtowns that sprouted up in the west with discoveries of gold. The railroad system also made it possible for businesses to reach more customers by sending their products to markets in the east. Family businesses who sold locally before could now have access to more customers than ever. As railroads were being built, already developed towns paid to be a railroad stop where potential customers would get off. Entrepreneurs invested in mining and railroad projects, sending the economy skyrocketing. With the ability to easily commute throughout the whole country, small businesses were replaced by huge corporations who functioned nationwide. However, when corporations began to monopolize and force small businesses out of businesses by buying them out, the country began to question the morality of corporations. Most involved in corporations believed in social Darwinism, which states that the wealth of a person contributes to their “fitness” and ability to survive in the environment. Socialists felt that money was a game of the survival of the fittest, and if you were poor, you would simply be eliminated over time. Although the Transcontinental Railroad was initially beneficial to the economy, it caused conflict and controversy in society when businesses got too