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The Growth Of The Railroad In America Summary

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Recommended: Railroads in the late 1800s

John F. Stover, an expert on railroads and their history in America, describes the growth of the American railroad in the 1850s. Stover focuses on this decade specifically in his book because it was during this time that railroad expansion exploded with many miles of track being laid. Americans preferred the cheap costs, shorter distances, greater speed, and greater reliability of the railroads over waterways, which signaled the end of steamboat river commerce as well. It was during the 1850s that rails finally connected West to the Northeast which became massively important when the Civil War erupted at the turn of the decade. Stover begins by hypothesizing that the railroad expansion at this time laid the groundwork for profitable manufacturing …show more content…

Stover discusses Government efforts to fund the laying of rails, which were mainly centered in the Northeast rather than the South and it was this balance of railroad development in favor of the North that was the first nail in the coffin of Southern secession. Stover's material in his book is nothing really new. Historians have pinpointed the development of the railroads as a key factor in the defeat of the South in the Civil War and also the manner of development of said railroads. Stover’s points on the railroad signaling the death of steamboat river travel is also not a new concept for historians. To defend his arguments on how railroad development in the North eventually defeated the South in the Civil War, Stover laid out his chapters by region; East, West, and South to compare the rail mileage by state. He examined miles of track laid to population, land area, and capital invested per mile on a state by state, region by region basis. This book is an interesting account of the American Railroads of the 1850s and is filled with photographs, maps, and tables which are almost as useful for understanding the topic as the text

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White begins his book with discussing the extent of the railway system and the way it operated in time before the 1860’s, and the effect the Civil War had on the original inception of the idea behind the building of the transcontinentals. White writes about how the establishment of the transcontinentals affected people outside of the United States. The establishment of these railways scared politicians from the politicians in Canada and Mexico because it could lead to invasion or an establishment of a North American Empire. Beyond international concerns of expansion, the Native Americans were experiencing the expansion first hand by being kicked off of their own land in order to make way for the transcontinentals. White touches on how business monopolies and political corruption influenced land titles.

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There have been steam engine trains trailing the United States in the early 1800’s. Many of the early ones ran only a few dozen miles. When the railways ran longer distances, the cost to build and later ride them were be extremely high. However, long distances were what Minnesota needed to keep up with the competitive and growing nation around it. “Construction began on the first track in 1861 in St. Paul and was completed in 1862.”

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One major industry during this time period was found in the railroad. The of course was also considered the center of national or both financial and political corruption (White, 21). While transcontinental railroads were essential developments for the growth of the United

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From around 1800 to 1860, the Antebellum period was a time in which America developed newfound technology rapidly, saw great economic growth, and experienced social reformation movements. However, it is also arguably the time in which the United States was most divided. During this era, one of the most significant events that contributed to American unity were the implementations of improved transportation, which included canals, roads, and railroads. These improvements allowed for faster and easier accessible commerce, provided more efficient means of getting around, and stimulated the growth of smaller communities. Though the nature of these internal improvements may be considered conversational due to the lack of government management at

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The civil war, starting in 1861, lasted 4 years. Afterwards, reconstruction in the south begun, but 15 years later, 1880, marked the end of reconstruction altogether, leaving both sides effected. Between the years 1860 and 1880, the civil war and its aftermath transformed relationships and progress in America. The Union tried to enforce a positive integration for the African Americans but faced resistance from the South.

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Transcontinental railroad. In C. L. Clark (Ed.), The American Economy: A Historical Encyclopedia (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/abcamerecon/transcontinental_railroad/0?institutionId=8703 Railroads and Westward Expansion. (2011).

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During the period of 1860-1900, there were many factors that helped to promote America’s industrial growth. With railroads increasing commerce, a large supply of necessary resources: coal, iron, and water, help from the supportive government, and a large wave of new immigrants it really was irresistible to not turn into a much more mechanized country. Once the 20th century was upon us, America was one of the greatest industrial nations in the World. Industrialization is what has led this country to be as successful as we know it today. As shown in Document 2, in 1860, there were less than 40,000 miles of railroad track.

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The first way that the economy was impacted was that with the ease and efficiency of the railroads, they created a large demand for goods and labor because they needed a lot of people to help build the railroads and also needed a large quantity of steel for the rails and wood for the railroad ties. Secondly the railroads created a huge national market because of the simplicity of delivering goods from place to place. The railroads helped the people in even the most rural place prosper with the cost efficient transportation of the trains. From 1830 to 1861, the United States laid aproximately 30,000 miles of railroad track, which led to an increase in demand for coal which was used to produce iron for the

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The War Between the States was one of America’s greatest wars—it was the fight for freedom, but it also impacted the economy. Because of this, America’s labor and transportation systems both took a significant turn during the Civil War, impacting America’s economy forever. In the end, the American Civil War greatly benefitted our transportation system, but devastated the South’s labor force. For a war to be fought strategically well, there first must be a form of simple, yet speedy, transportation. That is where the transcontinental railroad came in.

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How does the United States railroad infrastructure compare to the rest of the World? What is the future of railroad during this renaissance period? These are some of the questions that this paper attempts to answer while giving numerical

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During the mid-1800s, the South, a region of solely one industry, found itself isolated from the rest of the U.S. Naturally, in respect to their primarily industry, instead of taking part in the quickly expanding rail network in America going on during this age, the South advanced as market and transportation centers instead. In addition, an other isolation factor was the major barrier of the Appalachian Mountains, which presented difficulties in attempts to building railroad lines. Lew presents this as one of the factors which tribute to the high degree of isolation and lower development level in the deep

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Before the 1800s, there were two early roads, Forbes and Wilderness Road. In 1811, the National Road known as Cumberland Road was built to reach Western settlements, because they needed a road to ship farm products that connect East and West. The National Road passed thousand of wagons and coaches. John F. Stover states in American Railroads, “The rich agricultural production of the country, the small but expanding factories of eastern cities, and the largely untapped natural resources of the nation-all of these called for improvements in transport. ”(Stover1)

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Have you ever wondered how today’s economy would be if railroads did not exist. How would we get our goods across the country in an efficient way, how much work would be put in without a railroad to carry several goods at once to a destination. With the invention of rail lines across the country many items could be delivered in a much shorter time, also resulting in a much effective economy. Railways began developing in the seventeenth century in England to reduce friction from heavily loaded vehicles. The “gravity road” in North America was built in 1764 for use by the military at Niagara portage in Lewiston, New York.

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The Tremendous Impact of Railroads on America In the late 19th century, railroads propelled America into an era of unprecedented growth, prosperity, and convenient transportation. Prior to the building of the railroads, America lacked the proper and rapid transportation to make traveling across the country economical or practical. Lengthy travel was often cumbersome, costly, and dangerous.

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was a vast empire and as it continued to grow, it needed a more efficient means of transporting goods and resources along the different sides of the country and “in the 1890s America's territorial maturity could be thought to have been achieved” (R05, p. 102). From 1863-1869, the U.S. was building its transcontinental railroad, from the Eastern end to the Western end of the country where “massive growth had given new importance to the influence of business interests in American government” (R05, p.102). Such a project benefited the U.S. but “in its wake, the lives of countless Native Americans were destroyed, and tens of millions of buffalo. . . were nearly driven to extinction in a massive slaughter made possible by the railroad” (R03, p.3). As a safety measurement against the Native Americans, soldiers from East were sent along the construction of the railroad.

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