A Changing Society
Did you know that there were many negative and positive effects caused by the transcontinental railroad? By the 1900’s the U.S government finally achieved the manifest destiny.
The manifest destiny is a belief shared by many americans that the U.S should expand across the continent to the pacific ocean. I believe the transcontinental railroad had more negative effects than positive effects on The United States Of America. The transcontinental railroad had many benefits on the United States. One was that it tied together the isolated communities along the north coast of Monterey Bay. I know this because according to document 4 it states, “Santa Cruz County owed everything, for railroads constructed during the 1870s tied togethertheisolatedcommunitiesalongthenorthcoastofMontereyBayand launched an era of unparalleled development.
.”Another positive effect that the railroad had on the United States is that credit was given to settlers to move to Eastern Nebraska. I know this because according to the advertisement given on document 5 “Five and ten years’ credit given, with interest at six per cent.” Although the Transcontinental railroad had many positive effects on the United States, it also had even more negative effects. One negative effect is how the chinese railroad workers hardly had any money left because they had to use it on clothing and food. I know this because according to document 4 it states, “Chinese railroad workers on the Santa Cruz Railroad worked six ten-hour days a week and were paid one dollar a day.
Two dollars per week was deducted from their pay for food, while expenses such as clothing and recreation chipped away at the remaining four dollars so that they averaged three dollars per week profit. .” Another negative effect the transcontinental railroad had was how the railroad workers went on strike. I know this because according to the text written by Howard Zinn it states, “That year (1877) there came a series of tumultuous strikes by railroad workers in a dozen cities; they shook the nation as no labor conflict in its history had done. It began with wage cuts on railroad after railroad, in tense situations of already low wages ($1.75 a day for brakemen working twelve hours), scheming and profiteering by the railroad companies, deaths and injuries among the workers—loss of hands, feet, fingers, the crushing of men between cars.
” In conclusion, in this essay I discussed how the transcontinental railroad had more of a negative impact on The United States Of America. I believe this because if you add up how many conflicts were caused by this railroad based on the information I was given, there are more negative effects than positive effects on The United States Of America.
