1. Railroads

2. Railroads Span the U.S. ► Built from East (Union Pacific) and West (Central Pacific) ► Meet at Promontory, Utah – May 10, 1869 ► Leland Stanford set to drive “golden spike” ► 1 st Transcontinental Railroad

3. What did Railroads Bring ► 1) Chance to go west and start over ► 2) Available land ► 3) Chinese (employed by Central Pacific) ► 4) Irish (employed by Union Pacific)

4. Railroads brought… ► 5) Death and disease (by 1888 more than 2000 dead and 20,000 injured) ► 6) Time zones (1883, though not official in U.S. until 1918 – U.S. had 4) ► 7) Business (Iron, coal, steel, lumber, and glass) ► 8) New towns (i.e. Seattle) ► Pumas!

5. Problem 1 ► Pullman and People control ► a) Provided for all his people’s (workers and families) basic needs  Homes, doctors’ offices, athletic fields, stores ► b) Controlled aspects of people’s lives  Not allowed to hang out on front porch or drink alcohol  People had no say in rules and laws ► c) Violent strike in 1894 (12 killed)

6. Problem 2 ► Credit Mobilier (Construction company) ► Stockholders gave company a contract to lay track at 2-3x actual cost – and pocketed the profits (about $23 million) ► Donated shares of stock to representatives in Congress

7. Problem 3 ► Grangers  Farmer Organization 1867 – angry at railroads for fixing prices and abusing land grants ► Granger laws – states can set standard rates and prohibit discrimination ► Railroads angry and try to overturn ► Laws upheld by Munn v. Illinois in 1877 ► Supreme Court reverses Granger Laws ► Congress overrides Supreme Court with Interstate Commerce Act (Federal group, Interstate Commerce Commission, to oversee railroads)

8. So What? ► First time federal government gets involved in private business to serve public interest ► Railroads unified country – first time you can travel across country with relative ease ► Economic boom for U.S. ► Gap between rich and poor grows ► Racism