American Industrialization Essay

The change in transportation led to social changes as well. Due to the construction of railroads in the urban areas there was more settlement in places where transportation was available such as New York. Due to the increase in transportation, white plantation owners increased their need for slave labor on the cotton farms as well as stricter slave code policies were increased in the South. Due to the advanced railroad system Americans are able to move westward very easily. All the migrants were in search for a new life and quick riches. In 1848-1855 Americans moved west because of the California Gold Rush. The gold rush attracted Chinese migrants to the western United States. Some migrants planned to take advantage of the public lands that the federal government was selling in order to

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.

For citizens all throughout the United States. By traveling via train passengers could reach their destination in 90% of the time compared to the travel methods before. This also caused a large increase in Western Settlement. Now, families did not have to worry about the harsh and long travel they would have had to make to go West just a few years before. People did not have to worry about weather, supply shortage, disease, and more, as railroad travel helped all of those situations. However, every good thing has a bad side, and it is important to note that the increase of Western Settlement forced more Indians out of their land, which began to cause violence between white men and Indians.

Second, the development of new public transit systems, was important in shaping the design of our cities and the growth of our cities by enabling people to move further away from the inner city. Early on, large cities didn’t really have public transportation. Their main source of transportation were horse drawn wagons and walking. In conclusion, most people lived near on in the downtown area, where most of the working establishments were located. Because of this, it made big cites crowed and congested. With the breakthrough of the “el”, electric streetcars, and subways, around 1867, cities began expand more. Those who were fortunate enough to move out of the dirty cities and into better neighborhoods surrounded outside the city, did so. The new transit systems in most cities allowed people to escape the chaos of urban life and provided potential for growth of our cities.

Americans looked towards the western lands as an opportunity for large amounts of free land, for growth of industry, and pursue the manifest destiny.

America had a huge industrial revolution in the late 1800”s. Many changes happened to our great nation, which factored into this. The evidence clearly shows that advancements in new technology, a large wave of immigrants into our country and new views of our government, helped to promote America’s huge industrial growth from the period of 1860-1900.

The United States immigration and emigration is directly linked with the railroads construction history of the 19th century. The construction of the railroads that facilitated western expansion Immigrants were not only integral to part of the expansion, but they also used the railroad to migrate west and form new immigrant States in the territory. In the early 19 century, United States expanded westward, across the Mississippi River and later to the Pacific Ocean. These western lands, either was purchased, won in battles, or seized outright from Indian tribes and other nations.

“In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act into law. The act said that there were two main railroad lines. The Central Pacific Railroad would come from California and the Union Pacific Railroad would come from the Midwest. The two railroads would meet somewhere in the middle.”(Ducksters). Seven years later the Transcontinental Railroad is finished and you can now travel across the country with ease. The Transcontinental Railroad has impacted positive Westward expansion because The Transcontinental Railroad helped people move west and create jobs, The Transcontinental Railroad was the cheapest and fastest way to get westward, and The Transcontinental Railroad set the foundation for moving westward in the United States.

“Before the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, it cost nearly $1,000 dollars to travel across the country. After the railroad was completed, the price dropped to $150 dollars.”(History.com Staff). Prior to the railroad the average citizen of America could not afford to travel across the country cheaply. America waited for a means of transportation which would connect them from the Western to Eastern states. The responsibility of creating the railroads were left up to construction companies. Once this invention was created, traveling became quick, easy and affordable. The Transcontinental Railroad could be defined as the most significant change in America, during the 19th Century.

Industrialization changed the lives of the people of this nation. By the late nineteenth century, with advances in technology, communication, and transportation, a new type of industrialization was formed, a global one.

for it (Cooke 254). If it had been left to the government, it would have taken

The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.

The transcontinental railroad was the most influential innovation of the United States, that brought a revolution of how people traveled. One year after the Civil War ended the people of the United States were looking for a way to unite their country back together. This helped mold the United States as to what it has become today. It helped people cross the country and improved how goods were transported. The man that was forming the transcontinental railroad was a merchant named Asa Whitney. He had asked the government for funding to construct one of the greatest innovation of the United States. “Two railroads, the Central Pacific starting in San Francisco and a new railroad, the Union Pacific, starting in Omaha, Nebraska, would build the rail-line.” (ushistory.org). One fear of building the railroad was the danger of the “Great American Desert” because of the lack of resources. The Central Pacific was primarily made by Chinese immigrants. The Union Pacific was primarily made up of Irish immigrants. By spring of 1866 the Central Pacific had only build 68 miles of track from Sacramento, while the Union Pacific going west from Omaha built 200 miles of track in less than a year. Therefore the Union Pacific made millions more. The next three years the railroads would continue to try and make history.

Train goers praised the transcontinental railroad for its speed and convenience. The success of this first railroad led to the plans to make many, though a depression in 1973 led to a halt in the project for four years. Once it was up and running again, an increase in the settlement of the west was evident.

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