I thought DoDo had a great diary up about the railroads, but I wanted to add to it. He only mentions Lincoln briefly, and I do not believe that does justice to Lincoln’s influence in this area. I think it connects to what I think is the most successful conspiracy in American history, one that is NEVER spoken about.
Virtually everyone is aware the Lincoln was a lawyer. But what most don’t know is that he was a hugely successful railroad attorney. He argued many cases before the Supreme Court of the US, and argued literally hundreds before State Supreme Courts. He was probably the most famous railroad attorney in American, and in one single case was paid near 5,000.00 dollars, in 1850 dollars.
http://www.indianahistory.org/our-services/books-publications/railroad-symposia-essays-1/Abe%20Linco
ln%20as%20a%20Railroad%20Attorney.pdf
Many of his cases dealt with railroad rights of way.
Lincoln was a huge proponent of railroad expansion, and was a main advocate of a transcontinental railroad.
And so the story thickens;
With the advancement in railroad technology the building of a trans railroad became economically feasible. With California joining the Union in 1850, such a railroad became both imperative and inevitable. There had to be a cheap and reliable method of transporting goods and people across the relatively empty and inhospitable middle part of the country. At the time, it was either by stage or ship. Stage took a lot of time, and in winter was extremely difficult, and was not at all comfortable. Shipping was done two ways. The first method was around the tip of South America and up to San Francisco, which was expensive, time consuming, and dangerous in winter. Or you went by ship to Panama, shipped everything over the isthmus of Panama, and then caught another ship on to San Francisco. Not the most pleasant or easy of journeys. Think malaria and yellow fever.
A railroad had to be build.
There were several proposed routes;
http://www.geographicus.com/blog/rare-and-antique-maps/the-proposed-routes-of-the-pacific-railroad/
But it basically was a `Northern Route’ and a `Southern Route’. The southern route was advocated by the southern states, whom held large sway in Congress, and southerners dominated the Presidency for many years. They believed it would lead to expansion of slavery. It would originate in slave states, and travel through slave Texas. Also, the economic benefits of a southern route would strengthen the southern states position in Congress, and its position in America as a whole. Add strength to the threat of succession, in other words. While the southern route had benefits (no mountains, good weather year round) it was not acceptable to northern politicians, beyond the slave expansion reasons. There was little water for steam engines, and any land appropriated would have little value. It would also connect to San Diego, which like today, was a hick town in a jerk water part of the country. It was no San Francisco.
But the southern states would never support the northern route. Economically and politically it would strengthen the northern states. It would originate in slave free states, and pretty much isolate the slave states, because there would be no more slave state expansion. As the territories the railroad went through joined the Union as states, they would be slave free, and eventually out vote the southern states. For the southern states, voting for the northern route would be voting for their own oblivion.
So an impasse developed. A railroad was needed. There were vast sums of money to be made. But no progress was being made. Several times it seemed the southern route was inevitable, simply because it seemed the only one able to get votes (if the northern politicians acceded).
A solution had to be found, and the Baron’s found it.
In Lincoln the railroad barons had a reliable supporter of their goals. As most of the northern elite, he was a true believer in the economic benefits of railroads. For that reason, they gave him money and support throughout his career. He had one more very important benefit… he was completely unacceptable to southern states as a presidential candidate. Threats of succession were very common in the years before 1860.
http://www.historynet.com/secession
It was not a secret what would happen if a POTUS was elected that was unacceptable to the south.
Once Lincoln was elected, southern opposition to the northern route was gone, and even though American was in the middle of a devastating war, the trans railroad was started in 1863, and completed in 1868.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad
But also, railroads were expanded EVERYWHERE. Rail was needed for the war effort. Also, as the southern infrastructure was destroyed, it had to be rebuild, and that was done by the railroad barons (and standardized rail gauge along the way).
So Lincoln was not a minor influence in railroad development in American. His position as a railroad supporter, and unacceptability to southern states as POTUS, directly led to the greatest expansion of railroads in American. This expansion lasted for all the later half of the 19th century.
History looks at Lincoln as the Great Emancipator.
But within two years of being elected, the Pacific Railroad Act had been passed. Within weeks of taking office, all southern opposition to the more profitable northern route had been removed. The war made certain that there was virtually no oversight to the building of the trans route. Millions and millions were made because of his being elected. You simply cannot overstate the impact of his presidency on America, and by that I mean the railroads.
But the true cost of that expansion might have been 650,000 lives.
http://www.civilwar.org/education/civil-war-casualties.html
In America, it’s almost always about the money.
nalbar