Recent Developments: Transcontinental Railroad

The construction of a railroad connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America had been discussed since the 1830s, well before railroads were common, and before California—the railroad’s proposed western terminus—was part of the United States. After the signing of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which annexed California and much of the Southwest to the United States, serious proposals emerged in Congress to construct a railway connecting the nation’s eastern and western portions. These proposals, however, snagged on disagreement as to what route such a railroad would take. Southerners wanted the railway to follow a route that connected the South with California; Northern legislators lobbied for a central or northern route. When the Civil War began, most Southern legislators withdrew from Congress, and opposition to a central route for the transcontinental railroad melted away. Northern legislators, meanwhile, became convinced that the railroad was a necessary defense measure, and also that it would strengthen trade with Asia, via the west coast. Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act and President Abraham Lincoln signed it on 1 July 1862. This legislation authorized giving large sections of land and issuing bonds to the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad (later renamed the Southern Pacific Railroad) to construct a transcontinental railroad along the one hundredth meridian. Construction on the railroad began at opposite ends of the route in 1863, while the Civil War was at its height. The Union Pacific, employing more than eight thousand immigrants—mainly Irish and German—built westward from Omaha; the Central Pacific, employing ten thousand laborers—mainly Chinese—built eastward through the mountains from Sacramento.