Transcontinental Railroad:

The Move West

Across the Continent. "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way"
Frances Flora Bond Palmer, American (born England), 1812 - 1876. Published by Currier & Ives, New York.
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/308328.html

Map of the United States

Need To Know:
1. The Great Plains:
-grasslands
-dry and hot summers
-harsh winters

2. Transcontinental Railroad: 1869 Union Pacific and

Central Pacific railroads came together at
Promontory Summit, Utah.
-First time country is connected
3. Homestead Act:
-Government offered 160 acres FREE
-5 years and improve the landhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Map_of_th
e_Great_Plains.png

Transcontinental Railroad

http://www.tcrr.com/Transcontinental-Railroad-map-wiki.jpg

Homestead Act
Survey the text: what features do you notice?
(dates, etc.)
What questions do you have?
Read the text to try to answer those questions
and gain a basic understanding
Respond/discuss: whats happening here?
Reread more carefully, this time, focusing on
the idea of opportunity
Describe the opportunity in one word/phrase
Write words/phrases within the text that create this
power

The Homestead Act

What is the purpose of this act?
The Homestead Act was meant to
insure that United States citizens who
actually wanted to farm land were the
recipients of the government's largess.
Who else might have wanted to profit
from this deal, and how? How is the
law trying to prevent various abuses?

The Pacific Railway Act

Individually read The Pacific Railway
Act

The Pacific Railway Act

1. What is the purpose of this act?
2. What is the Union Pacific Railroad Company empowered by this act to do?
3. What will be the most difficult terrain on which to lay track? What other difficulties do you
foresee in terms of crews of men living and working in a variety of environments as they lay
tracks?
4. Why do you think the government is providing for the building of telegraph poles along
the length of the railroad?
5. What does the government promise to do if American Indian tribes claim title to this land?
6. In Section 3 the act provides the railroad with more land than what is needed to give it a
right of way. Why will this land fronting the railroad tracks be even more valuable than land
given to homesteaders at a distance from the railway?

Government and Migration

How are these two acts related?
What month and year did Congress pass each of these two acts?
Why do you think they were passed within months of each
other? (Contextualization: What major event is happening
during this time?)
In what ways are these acts mutually beneficial both to settlers
and the railways?
How do the acts transfer power?
What role does the railroad have on the idea of opportunity
(American Dream) on Homesteaders?

Debrief
What are the consequences of the
development of the railroad? Positive
and negative?