The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 2020 | Page 18

The Saber
itants of the Atlantic seaboard and the
dwellers on the Pacific slopes are henceforth
emphatically one people.” 5 This
railroad, like other railroads around the
country, was a symbol and creator of a
“new industrial order” and signaled the
arrival of a new modern age of technology
and a new, uniquely American culture.
6
From 1862 to 1872, the federal
government awarded more than 100
million acres of land and millions of
dollars “in direct aid to support railroad
construction.” Most of this money went
to finance the transcontinental lines
that were established during and after
the Civil War. 7 The idea of a transcontinental
line dates to the early 1800s and
memorably to the last session of Congress
in November 1845. Asa Whitney,
a New York merchant, presented a proposal
and a request of public lands “for
the purpose of constructing a Railroad
from Lake Michigan to the Pacific.” 8
The short article in The Cadiz Sentinel
described the proposal as “so vast and
apparently chimerical” and few political
leaders seemed willing to entertain the
idea. 9 When the United States acquired
California in 1848 after the Mexican
War, the idea of a transcontinental
line gained momentum. Whitney even
helped keep the proposal at the forefront
of political and economic discussion
by publishing outlines of possible
rail routes. 10 Ten years earlier, before
the railway had even begun to be built,
the project had gained notoriety even in
England. The Manchester Weekly Times
and Examiner in June 1851 had this to
say about “Mr. Asa Whitney’s American
Railroad:” “Within little more than half
6