Westward Expansion

Business growth on both sides of the country was expedited by a new form of cheap distribution into profitable, expanding markets. Easy transportation facilitated the concept of business travel and expansion on an unprecedented scale. However, some of the largest impacts of the Transcontinental Railroad can be seen through the cross­country exchange of ideas. Before the railroad existed, the only fast exchange of information was written through the pony express. The Transcontinental Railroad created an outlet of communicating new ideas and information in person. A smooth and swift cross­country exchange of people and ideas not only made America more infrastructurally sophisticated ­­ it acted as a foundation for the Western United States to grow from very little to the political, social, economic, and technological center that it is today.

Railroads were a huge step in innovations for the United States. The transcontinental Railroad was

Through the development of a transcontinental railroad system, the west was settled and many American dreams were in reach.

The transcontinental railroad replaced the pony express and many other means of transportation, making travel safer and upgrading technology, improving the lives of many. Farmers, for instance, were able to trade more crops they had grown, and quicker. The transcontinental railroad went from Nebraska to California. Say there was a farmer in Nebraska, and he wanted to ship corn to a trading post in Nevada. Without the railroad, travel would take much longer, and the trading post would find another farmer that was closer and easier. Furthermore, many forms of tools that are very important in agriculture could not be easily accessed. A spring-toothed harrow is a tool used for farming. This tool is very large, so it would be very hard to transport,

“If any act symbolized the taming of the Northwest frontier, it was the driving of the final spike to complete the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.”1 The first railroad west of the Mississippi River was opened on December 23, 1852. Five miles long, the track ran from St. Louis to Cheltanham, Missouri. Twenty-five years prior, there were no railroads in the United States; twenty-five years later, railroads joined the east and west coasts from New York to San Francisco.2

The Transcontinental Railroad was a technological breakthrough that managed to make the USA feel smaller to travelers. Railroad systems had been in place decades before the transcontinental railroad had been constructed. However, these systems were not in synch as there were many different railroad companies and even more laws in place from state to state. This was in part due to the civil war, during this period both governments wanted better transportation of goods and troops. This caused many factors like track gauge (spacings of the rails) lengths to differ vastly. These differences in factors caused the slowing of transportation as, many of the times, people and goods being transported had to move trains where these railways met up. Also, many railways would not intersect towns, causing them to board trains on the other side of town. The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the stepping stones towards standardization as these factors were enforced by law for uniformity, and towns began to be built around these railways. This allowed people to travel from the eastern coast to the western coast without having to swap railways many times and would bring people and their ideas closer together, and, most importantly, caused the massive increase in western expansion. The transcontinental railroad was brought forth due to the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, Chinese laborers, and western migration allowing for decreased travel times, bulk movement of resources and products, and

Lincoln's election meant the end of southern life, that was the perception in the South (Schultz,n.d.). If the west became free states, Southerners believed that the government would outlaw slavery. The election only ignited more tension than was already there. The south began to talk about succession from the Union. and the economical state played an intricate part in the beginning of the war. The south developed differently than the north because they were more dependent on crops and slavery.They believed that reliance on the river ways could sustain the economy in the region, it did to an extent. The north, on the other hand, developed as a result of the market revolution with communication and transportation.

From the years 1800-1850 the nation was filled with battles and affluence. Westward Expansion was America's inclination to possess western territories that have yet to be claimed or negotiate claims with other countries. Expansion of the U.S. was a cause for most battles fought during this time; however, our nation was continuing to prosper. Under, the idea of Manifest Destiny which was the belief that the United States was divinely made to expand from coast to coast, the country began to use any means necessary to expand. Among these were battles, purchases from other countries, and treaties. Conflicts during this period included, but not limited to, The Oregon Territory, Louisiana Purchase, and the Mexican-American war. I believe Westward expansion was an

The development of the railroads was the beginning of a new transport system in America, it connected the east and west, and the communication across the continent grew easier. With the railroads brought new life to deserted towns, people settled along the railways, it was faster for people to travel from one way to the next, it was cheaper, and it led to new industries in lead,coal, and

this eventually had more immigrants coming into the states during the 19th century but ,most of them were Europeans came here to have their own land.It also added vast resources to the United States in potential agricultural and production .It started the construction of the Railroad, and added new states to the country and It also made divide between north and south, and accelerated the onset of the Civil War. the westward expansion helped the people also It made American society richer and in doing so Getting access to more land and more resources helped to make the country richer.It helped to promote the idea that the US wanted to be a great power in the world . Expansion was based on taking land from natives and spanish who were underclass . This eventually helped promote the idea that Americans were better than others and deserved more power. It is said to have helped create a more democratic culture and By going out west, people became more self-reliant because they had to face hardships on their own instead of relying on people to solve them themselves some people don't like it to be there. the more land that they got and expanded made it to where they need more people in that area to be and more money it cost to civilize it and the more land they are taking away from

As the population of the West soared and the prospects of statehood for western territories appeared clearer and clearer, the nation battled over the future of slavery in the West. This battle was one reason for the Civil War, which slowed the acceleration of expansion. However, the last three decades of the nineteenth century saw the return of accelerating expansion due to the successful struggle to contain the Plains Indians in reservations, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. By the

After a long six years, the first United States transcontinental railroad was completed. The ceremony date was on the golden

The Transcontinental Railroad revolutionized the United States of America. Built from 1863 to 1869, the almost 2,000-mile long track joined together from Sacramento and Omaha on May, 10 in Promontory Point, Utah. The Transcontinental Railroad had many effects on America, but was the impact most prominent socially, politically, or economically? The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad reshaped economy. The Railroad created a much more efficient method of transport, grew towns into cities, and still carries millions of tons of goods to this day.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill and the Pacific Railroad Act became the law, which gave the contract to the Central Pacific (CP) and the Union Pacific (UP) Companies, and assigned them to build transcontinental

At the peak of expansion in the 1800’s, communication between the east and west was at the forefront of importance. A document from the State of Pennsylvania regarding railways in 1825 remarked that there is extreme “importance and necessity of effecting a communication between the eastern and western divisions of the commonwealth” (Wade, 5). The appearance of the railroads in the early 19th century decreased and nearly diminished the communication gap as it provided a reliable and speedy method of communication. As the railroads became more prominent across the United States, the western states naturally became linked to the Midwestern and eastern states through the Union Pacific Railroad. This railroad running from the east coast to the west coast opened up new doors in trans-continental communication. Businesses between the east and the west were able to communicate more effectively, and thus, trans-continental trade became more defined throughout the United States. The mail services began using railroads as well, which was a large factor in improving communication across the US. Trans-continental communication was broadened simply by the increased number of people traveling across the country. And, even when the railroads seemed an impractical method of transportation, “they might make possible long