How Did Railroads Affect The Economy After 1860

The railroad impacted the Gilded Age, by creating an easier route for trans-portion of people, goods, and business affairs. Railroads was literally the

From the year of 1860 to 1900, eight out of ten presidents were republican [doc 4]. At the time, the republican platform believed in enacting policies that would encourage the development of industry [doc 3]. The beliefs and power held by the Republican Party at the time is likely why the amount of railroads increased substantially, going from under forty thousand miles to nearly two hundred thousand miles in less than forty years [doc 2]. Railroads were the driving force behind the industrialization of the country; they provided relatively inexpensive, quick transport for raw materials, livestock, people, and foodstuff. Railroads made life in the United States much more convenient, and the public demand for them was so high that the federal government was willing to offer money and land to have them built.

The railroad was first designed by George Stephenson whose original idea was to use steam to run the train and make transportation faster. When the US started using railroads and trains they purchased them from the Stephen Works company from Britain. “In the 1850s a boom in railroad development across the North was changing business organization and management and reducing freight costs. Railroads were influencing a rise in real estate values, increasing regional concentrations of industry, the size of business units and stimulating growth in investment banking and agriculture.

In the United States today a person could board a non-stop flight in New York City and arrive in San Francisco in less than seven hours. American’s today are spoiled in many ways, especially when it comes to travel. Imagine, instead of taking a flight to San Francisco you would have to travel by horse and buggy for up to six months in order to make the same trip. From the horse and buggy, travel evolved in the 1800s to railway and trains, which severely reduced the travel time. The Transcontinental Railroad influenced the westward expansion and transformed travel and economics of the United States in the late 1800s.

The railroad completely changed the way trade worked. Before the railroad people had to deliver goods by wagon, and that would cause a lot of problems because of the rough terrain and long delivery times, but with the railroad it made things 100 times easier for the single conductor, and the buyers who would get their product much faster than before. Railroads not only helped the economy, but it helped people as well, unlike most things that happened in the U.S. economy, there was little to nothing negative about the creation of railroads which was ideal because it is still being used today. Preceding the railroads there were steamboats, the steamboats were a big hassle because of the dangers, such as indian attacks or boiler explosions, but the Framers were not going to back down until they found the perfect way of trade, hence the railroad. Another way America increased trade was when the cotton gin was created.

This number continued to increase. In 1900, there were more than 190,000 miles of railroad track. Railroads helped to transport goods from factory to consumer more efficiently, which decreased the cost of the product for the consumer. The availability of manufactured goods and food increased because the railroad provided quick transportation. Also, accessibility to railroads made receiving certain products you might not have

After the railroad lines had been built out west changes occurred for both the Western and Eastern United States. By 1860 railroads connected nearly every major city and over 80 percent of farms were 5 miles from the railroad. It was easier and faster to transport goods such as; lumber, grain, corn, etc. to the Eastern United States. Farming changed with railroads because farmers could put their products and animals on the trains and make money. Within the first 10 years of completion the railroad had shipped over $50 million in goods.

The editors of the website, “History.com”, said “ In addition to transporting western food crops and raw materials to East Coast markets and manufactured goods from East Coast cities to the West Coast, the railroad also facilitated international trade…the U.S. by the 1890s had the most powerful economy on the planet” (para 3). Being able to transport goods from coast to coast brought new opportunities, and companies began to gain more profit as a result of more products being sold. The economy went from a generally limited location on the east coast to creating industries across the nation. The railroad created a production boom because industries in the eastern U.S. had to create the supplies necessary to build the railroad as well as creating the opportunity for industries to expand to the

To contrast, the railroads not only helped with coal, cattle, and steel, but also with the growth of cities. Many major cities were near major resources and railroads. The growth in America, were deeply dependent on railroad companies, like the Pacific, to create positive change and increases of products and resources in the American

The Gilded Age was the time Civil War and the World War 1. It is also known for the population and economic growth that went rapidly during this time. All the good things led to a lot of political corruption and bad deals. The American political landscape during this time was more corrupt and they didn’t care about political ethics. The business owners had more power than the politicians.

Transcontinental Railroad Tera Richardson, 4336787 History 102 B008 Sum 17 Professor Traci Sumner American Military University July 22, 2017 Abstract The transcontinental railroad was one of the biggest advocates for the industrial economy and westward expansion. The railroads could transfer goods and people across the country with ease, and quickly. While some bad came from this miraculous progression, such as the panic of 1873 and a yellow fever epidemic, the good outweighed the bad as it enabled the United States to fulfill its Manifest Destiny through westward expansion.

In turn, railroad companies spent large sums of money purchasing railroad supplies. The cycle of employing large numbers of workers, building the railroads, and spending large sums of money stimulated extraordinary growth in the economy. In addition, railroads caused the remarkable growth of nationwide marketing in America in the late 19th century. Railroads allowed mail-order

The first way that the economy was impacted was that with the ease and efficiency of the railroads, they created a large demand for goods and labor because they needed a lot of people to help build the railroads and also needed a large quantity of steel for the rails and wood for the railroad ties. Secondly the railroads created a huge national market because of the simplicity of delivering goods from place to place. The railroads helped the people in even the most rural place prosper with the cost efficient transportation of the trains. From 1830 to 1861, the United States laid aproximately 30,000 miles of railroad track, which led to an increase in demand for coal which was used to produce iron for the

After a decade, there are 30,000 miles of operational railroad. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railroad Act, leading to the construction of the intercontinental railroad and a means of transport between the west and the east. During the Civil War, railroads were a crucial tool that both sides of the conflict used to move troops and transport materials. The railroad's “golden age” starts in 1865, and from this point until 1916, the railroad network is unmatched and is scaled up by an incredible degree. The railroad network consists of 254,000 miles of operational railroads by 1916.

Analysis of the article written by Steve Forbes “Our (deregulated) railroads are an economic miracle. Let’s learn from them” Steve Forbes recently wrote an article for Fox News about the deregulation of railroads and how it has possibly affected our economy in a positive way. Forbes makes a very good point in the article by explaining that in the early 1980’s, the railroad system was not being used very much for the transport of goods. As a result the government lifted its regulations (and taxes) of railroads, and railroad companies began to see a profit. As Forbes states “The Department of Transportation reported that railroad industry costs and prices were cut in half in the decade following deregulation”.