Themes in American History

During the period of 1800 and 1865, the Erie Canal was built because of the in need of the trading in west coast. That was the first transportation system between New York City and the west coast. It made transportation much easier at that time. As the result, the Central Pacific Railroad Company was established in San Francisco in 1863 and they would like to construct the Pacific Railroad from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Oakland, California to increase trading. These two projects both faced one problem: the lack of labors. In the case of New York City, as the increase of the immigrants, more and more immigrants were hired to do the work. Almost the same as the case of San Francisco, however, the company hired labors from China. In both cases, many workers died during the construction because of the harsh and dangerous working condition. At last, the Erie Canal was not supported by the federal government. President Jefferson rejected the project and called this “a little short of madness”, but the New York governor, Dewitt Clinton, supported this idea. The Pacific Railroad was supported and funded by the Congress.

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