Lincoln and the transcontinental railroad

[Christine]

We are gearing up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads at Promontory Point, Utah. I am hoping the ceremony gives due credit to Lincoln and his vision. I think the ceremonies and Tabernacle Choir concert will be available to see online. I was visiting with someone today about how the excitement about the railroad helped heal some of the divisions and sorrows of the Civil War by uniting the country and providing something else to focus on. I would love to hear your thoughts! I am also proud of the part my great great grandfather and his crew played in building it!

[L Verge]

(05-04-2019 11:26 PM)Christine Wrote:  We are gearing up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads at Promontory Point, Utah. I am hoping the ceremony gives due credit to Lincoln and his vision. I think the ceremonies and Tabernacle Choir concert will be available to see online. I was visiting with someone today about how the excitement about the railroad helped heal some of the divisions and sorrows of the Civil War by uniting the country and providing something else to focus on. I would love to hear your thoughts! I am also proud of the part my great great grandfather and his crew played in building it!

Christine - I think the remarkable history of American railroads has been forgotten over the past fifty years or so, and I am happy to hear that there will be celebrations during the anniversary. On a somewhat related note, Surratt House held an encampment of Buffalo Soldiers yesterday that was very well attended, and the history told and the exhibits the units brought were outstanding. Part of the history of Buffalo Soldiers is related to assisting the transcontinental railroad.

Unfortunately, on the day before, we had a somewhat hostile comment regarding our posting about the units being at our museum. Someone with Native American ties made a sarcastic remark that the Buffalo Soldiers should not boast about their treatment of the various tribes that they helped to eliminate in America's push westward. Another added to it by declaring that only the "palefaces" benefited from the treatment of blacks and Indians.

We have been trying to bring teachable moments to the visitors at Surratt House - not just regarding the Civil War era and the Lincoln assassination, but also in how events at one point in history affect generations decades later. This ongoing refusal to learn from the past and move on gets frustrating.

[LincolnMan]

(05-05-2019 03:18 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(05-04-2019 11:26 PM)Christine Wrote:  We are gearing up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads at Promontory Point, Utah. I am hoping the ceremony gives due credit to Lincoln and his vision. I think the ceremonies and Tabernacle Choir concert will be available to see online. I was visiting with someone today about how the excitement about the railroad helped heal some of the divisions and sorrows of the Civil War by uniting the country and providing something else to focus on. I would love to hear your thoughts! I am also proud of the part my great great grandfather and his crew played in building it!

Christine - I think the remarkable history of American railroads has been forgotten over the past fifty years or so, and I am happy to hear that there will be celebrations during the anniversary. On a somewhat related note, Surratt House held an encampment of Buffalo Soldiers yesterday that was very well attended, and the history told and the exhibits the units brought were outstanding. Part of the history of Buffalo Soldiers is related to assisting the transcontinental railroad.

Unfortunately, on the day before, we had a somewhat hostile comment regarding our posting about the units being at our museum. Someone with Native American ties made a sarcastic remark that the Buffalo Soldiers should not boast about their treatment of the various tribes that they helped to eliminate in America's push westward. Another added to it by declaring that only the "palefaces" benefited from the treatment of blacks and Indians.

We have been trying to bring teachable moments to the visitors at Surratt House - not just regarding the Civil War era and the Lincoln assassination, but also in how events at one point in history affect generations decades later. This ongoing refusal to learn from the past and move on gets frustrating.

Laurie: yes, it is so frustrating! As we have said so many times-different groups slant their positions with partial truths (or no truths at all) to “prove” a point. Knowledgeable listeners/readers spot the slant quickly, but, of course, many people are not well-informed. Today we see this a lot in the political arena. And to a public that lives off sound-bites through the media there seems to be little regard for truly vetting/researching things.

[David Lockmiller]

(05-04-2019 11:26 PM)Christine Wrote:  We are gearing up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads at Promontory Point, Utah. I am hoping the ceremony gives due credit to Lincoln and his vision. I think the ceremonies and Tabernacle Choir concert will be available to see online. I was visiting with someone today about how the excitement about the railroad helped heal some of the divisions and sorrows of the Civil War by uniting the country and providing something else to focus on. I would love to hear your thoughts! I am also proud of the part my great great grandfather and his crew played in building it!

As was customary on the last day of the session [July 1, 1862], the president traveled to the Capitol, stationing himself in the vice president’s office, where he signed the spate of bills rushed through in the final days of the term. It had been an extraordinary productive session. Relieved of Southern opposition, the Republican majority was able to pass three historic bills that had been stalled for years: the Homestead Act, which promised 160 acres of free public land largely in the West to settlers who agreed to reside on the property for five years or more; the Morrill Act, providing public lands to states for the establishment of land-grant colleges; and the Pacific Railroad Act, which made the construction of a transcontinental railroad possible. The 37th Congress also laid the economic foundation for the Union war effort with the Legal Tender bill, which created a paper money known as “greenbacks.” A comprehensive tax bill was also enacted, establishing the Internal Revenue Bureau in the Department of the Treasury and levying a federal income tax for the first time in American history.

(Source: Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin, pages 461-62.)

Ironic, all of this progress in forming a truly nation-state, the United States, would not have been immediately possible but for the “secession” of the Southern states to protect the state institution of slavery. It was President Abraham Lincoln who affected and signed into law the aforementioned progressive national legislation and who also “kept” the Southern states within the Union, both by war and politics.

[Christine]

If you see any pictures of the celebration look for my contribution! My husband and two sons and I got up before dawn and lined the road leading to Promontory Point with over 100 flags! Seeing those flags gently flapping in the early morning pre dawn stillness was an emotional experience! I put the last one in and said, "This one is for you Charles Richins" - my great great grandfather who worked on the railroad.

[L Verge]

The early morning news here in the D.C. area mentioned the celebrations going on -- in about a 30-second sound byte.

[Christine]

Jon Meacham, historian and author, just gave a BRILLIANT speech. Look it up. I will try to post a link.

[RJNorton]

Thanks to Bob Cook and Laurie for sending this link:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-new...vRtlaI0.99

[David Lockmiller]

"Cheers greet trains as thousands gather to mark 150th anniversary of transcontinental railroad"

Desert News ByAmy Joi O'Donoghue
Published: May 10, 2019

PROMONTORY SUMMIT, Box Elder — Cheers went up and the crowd whistled loudly as Jupiter and No. 119 met Friday at Promontory Summit to kick off the 150th anniversary of the wedding of the rails back on May 10, 1869.

The wind was brisk and cold, but it did not deter the thousands of people who waited in long lines to get into the Golden Spike National Historical Park, where the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad met as one to transform a nation reeling from the aftermath of the Civil War.

On this day, as it was 150 years ago, there was a blending of cultures and history as people from many faiths and ethnic backgrounds came together with a singular cause.

"The transcontinental railroad is the story of America, for better or worse," said keynote speaker Jon Meacham, presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

The idea to build a transcontinental railroad during an era of Civil War destruction came from the commander-in-chief, President Abraham Lincoln, who was buffeted by the war's horrors and divisiveness, the historian noted.

Still, the country persevered — which should serve as a lesson today when narcissistic pundits like to stress that modern America is going through its worst times now, Meacham said.

"I would rather be dealing with Facebook over Fort Sumter, wouldn't you?"

The crowds roared in response to his speech and later hooted and hollered when the re-enactment of the driving of the last spike was portrayed by actors.

Organizers of Spike 150 said an estimated 16,000 people walked into the park on Friday — all trying to get to the same patch of ground where history was made. More than 80 media organizations were credentialed to cover the event, with 200-plus individuals from countries ranging from Switzerland, China and Germany.

Those in the crowd came from everywhere as well.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert called the driving of the spike 150 years ago "the world's first mass media event," because it was carried live via the telegraph to places like Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

There were 6,000 to 7,000 people gathered at Tabernacle Square alone, he added.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said the completion of the transcontinental railroad monumentally changed the country.

"It is that century's moon landing," he said, noting now that the historic site is a national historical park.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao also delivered remarks.

Friday's event marked the first time the Irish ambassador to the United States, Dan Mulhall, visited Utah, where he delivered the celebratory toast to honor the laborers on the railroad.

More than 10,000 of them were Irish.

Noting the thousands of Chinese laborers, Mulhall said many of those names are largely absent from the historical record. It was his honor, he added, to toast the memory of all the workers.

"I salute all of those workers from many lands who built this railroad," he said, raising a glass.

Throughout the day, people in period costume ambled among the guests, including Beau Burgess, curator of the Fort Douglas Military Museum. Burgess was playing Gen. Patrick Connor, a County Kerry, Ireland, native who established Fort Douglas, or Camp Douglas as it was known then, in Salt Lake City in 1862.

Those lucky enough to get a front seat to the ceremony complained loudly, yelling at times, at members of the media for getting “in the way” while filming or photographing the ceremony. A small but especially vocal crowd yelled so loudly and collectively it caught the attention of the speakers on stage who paused, unsure what to do.

[Christine]

Here is a brief recap of Meachem's speech. Still looking for the full text since it was so fabulous and I know you people would love it.

"Meacham began by saying “everything was falling apart” in America in 1862, a year into the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln signed the legislation to create the rail line from the then-fractured Union states to the distant California coast. Approving the railroad was, Meacham said, “a far-sighted act for a commander-in-chief buffeted by the winds of war.”

"Lincoln and those who envisioned the railroad “knew that a nation connected just might be a nation united,” Meacham said. When the railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, four years after the Civil War’s end and Lincoln’s assassination, Meacham said, “the nation was united at [Promontory], if not in spirit, then in fact.”

"Meacham said the fact that the transcontinental railroad was accomplished while the nation remained sharply divided — it was, he said, “an era of prevailing white supremacy,” and before women had the vote — is something Americans today can take to heart.

"Many of the elements that brought divided people together to make the transcontinental railroad happen, Meacham said, “seem all too elusive in our own time. … We, you and I, are caught in a moment of reflexive dispiritedness.” Still, he said, “our common welfare depends not on what separates us … but what unites us.”

“If people want to know what is possible, come here,” Meacham said, pointing to the ground where the Jupiter and No. 119, replicas of the locomotives that met 150 years ago, stood and blew their steam whistles."

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/05/10/t...niversary/