School Improvement in Maryland

Historical Investigation — Age of Progress: The Transcontinental Railroad

United States History Content Standard

  • Analyze changes in land and water transportation, including a network of roads, canals, and railroads, and their impact on the economy and settlement patterns (2.7.8.1)

Geography Content Standard

  • Analyze the influence of transportation and communication on the movement of people, goods, and ideas from place to place (4.3.8.7)

Social Studies Skills Content Standard

  • Find, interpret, evaluate, and organize primary and secondary sources of information including pictures, graphics, maps, atlases, artifacts, timelines, political cartoons, videotapes, journals, and government documents (1.1.8.3)

National United States History Standard

  • Explain how the major technological developments that revolutionized land and water transportation arose and analyze how they transformed the economy, created international markets, and affected the environment (Era 4: Standard 2A)

National Geography Standard

  • The geographically informed person knows and understands the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface (Standard 11)

Engage the Students

Ask students to generate a working definition for the word "progress." It should be similar to "development or growth; steady improvement, as of a society; movement, as toward a goal" Then distribute and have students read the resource sheet "The Age of Progress." Ask students to identify when the lyrics were written and to explain what the word "progress" meant to the lyricist.

Narrative: Read the narrative to the class stressing the focus question at the end. Print Version

The 1800s saw an ever-increasing number of Americans moving westward in hopes of adventure and opportunity. A number of new states along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers were admitted to the United States in the early decades of the century. With the discovery of gold in California, more and more people realized the need for a transcontinental railroad system to tie the western territories to the east. In 1853, Congress sent surveyors out west to identify possible routes for a transcontinental railroad. In 1862, the Pacific Railway Act was passed. It authorized the Union Pacific Railroad to build a rail line west from Omaha, Nebraska and the Central Pacific Railroad to build a rail line east from Sacramento, California. The project was completed in 1869 and the United States for the first time was connected from New York to California with a railroad network that spanned over 3500 miles of track.

The lyricist of "The Age of Progress" wrote in his ballad that the completion of "the great Pacific Railroad" would be a part of an "age of giant progress." By definition, an age of progress is one in which a society experiences positive improvement and growth. Writing his song in 1860, the lyricist could not know for sure, but only imagine, the actual impact that a transcontinental railroad would have on the people living in the United States. What role did the transcontinental railroad play in the improvement and growth of American society?

In this activity, you are going to read primary and secondary source documents to gather evidence that will help you answer this focus question. You will have a chance to work in a group to discuss your ideas. Then you will use your prior knowledge and details from the primary and secondary sources to summarize what you have learned from this historical investigation.

Focus Question: What role did the transcontinental railroad play in the improvement and growth of American society?

Conduct the Investigation

In order to answer the focus question you will first examine several documents independently. Analyze each document and answer the following questions on your "Individual - Document Analysis" graphic organizer.

  1. How do I know this is reliable information?
  2. When was this document written? Who wrote it? What was its purpose?
  3. What is the author's point of view about the impact of the transcontinental railroad?
  4. How can this document help me answer the focus question?

Discussion

Now that the documents have been analyzed you will have the opportunity to discuss the documents and the focus question with other students in a group. As you discuss your interpretations of the documents cite evidence for your views and opinions. Multiple interpretations can emerge and may or may not be accepted by all. Write your group responses in the appropriate section on your "Group - Document Analysis" graphic organizer.

Report the Findings

Once historians have completed their research they present a written summary of their findings. You will do the same. Your written summary should answer the focus question and be supported with details from the primary and secondary documents you have read.

Focus Question: What role did the transcontinental railroad play in the improvement and growth of American society?

Primary Source Documents

The Age of Progress - pages 1 and 2

Graphic Sources

Text Sources

Additional web sources include: