AP US History in 1 Minute Daily: Transcontinental Railroad (Day 163/309)

Hey APUSHers, let’s chat about the transcontinental railroad as part of my series- APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!

Railroads Built in the Late 1800s, National Geographic

Federal support for the construction of railroads, such as through the Pacific Railway Act of 1862, contributed significantly to the exponential acceleration of westward migration.

Chinese Railroad Workers in the Sierra Nevada, Wikimedia Commons

Construction of the railroads was primarily done by Chinese and Irish immigrants and Black and white Civil War veterans. Despite unimagined challenges due to the weather, rugged terrain, and labor shortages and conflict, the first railroad was completed in 1869.

Cheyenne Indians tearing up the tracks of the Union Pacific, Digital Public Library of America

While American Indians had mounted a formidable resistance throughout the 1860s, in the second Fort Laramie treaty in 1868 they conceded and allowed railway construction.

The far west - shooting buffalo on the line of the Kansas-Pacific Railroad, Library of Congress

Called the twin prongs of the “final solution” to the “Indian question,” the railroads and the demise of the buffalo herds was both destructive to the tribal way of life and opened large swaths of land for incoming migrants.

During and after the Civil War, the federal government increased their support for the building of railroads that would span the continent. Their construction fueled massive social and economic changes for the nation.

Join me tomorrow as I explain the Homestead Act in the next APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!