world history

World History
Name
Institution

Pacific Railway Act
Introduction
The Pacific Railway Act was authorized to construct a telegraph line and a railroad. The telegraph line would commence all the way from Omaha and end to the far side of Sacramento California. Notably, the act was sign by then the president Abraham Lincoln on the 1st of July 1862 (Pohl and Wennersten, 2009). Nonetheless, the act ensured there was a provision of public land and bonds from the government where pay would originate from to fund the construction.
As noted earlier, the legislation as agreed by the signatories, gave permission for two companies in the railroad industry to construct the lines. In the commencement of the year 1863, more than 8000 people were employed by the Union Pacific. These people constituted of Italian, German and Irish immigrants. The Central Pacific on the other hand, had more than 10000 people in its workforce. The majority of these people constituted of Chinese laborers. The construction of the railway lines faced major challenges such as extreme weather conditions, construction failures and the hostility of the remorse Native Americans. The need for the act was based on the high rate of settlement of the western people. The members of Congress came up with an anonymous to decision to construct a rail transport. The only question was where the route would follow.
The use of federal land to construct a telegraph line and a railway road was agreed to by the Congress. This was after the southern states seceded and hence the Pacific Railway Act which ultimately became Law in the year 1862.

The legislative strategies that were placed aside resulted in the fruitful completion of the transcontinental railroad that significantly cut down time used to travel across continents.
References
Pohl, R. S., Wennersten, J. R., & Friends of Southeast Library. (2009). Abraham Lincoln and the end of slavery in the District of Columbia: [a Capitol Hill tribute to the Lincoln Bicentennial from Friends of Southeast Library]. Washington, DC: Eastern Branch Press.