#3: The muscle that built the rail

1. Describe the obstacles and challenged faced by railroad workers.

 The obstacles and challenged faced by railroad workers were that they had to blast through mountain ranges and lay track across broad deserts, to fend off attacks by Native Americans and to face difficult winters.

2. Discuss President Abraham Lincoln's involvement in the transcontinental railroad.

President Abraham Lincoln was involved in the transcontinental railroad when he signed the Pacific Railroad Act into law in 1862.

3. Explain how the railroad was funded.

The railroad was funded by government loans and land giveaways thanks to the work of thousand of men, with the goal of linking the U.S. population and commerce from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

4. What groups provided labor for the railroad's constructions? Describe the role of Chinese workers in its construction.

The labor for the railroad's constructions was provided from Chinese. Their role was to pick and blast the railroad's way through the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains.

 5. Explain why Native Americans were angered by the transcontinental railroad.

Native Americans were angered by the transcontinental railroad because they lived there before the arrival of whites and they thought they had the right to live there and because the railroad was trespassing across their prime hunting grounds.

6. Identify the place where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads met.

The Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads met at Promontory Summit to drive in the final ceremonial spikes.

7. Assess why the government played such a large role in the building of the transcontinental railroad.

The government played such a large role in the building of the transcontinental railroad because it paid loans to the railroads as they completed sections of track and also they granted the railroads federal lands on either side of the tracks that could subsequently be sold to settlers to help pay for the project.

8. Assess the importance of the transcontinental railroad. Describe how it changed the country.

The transcontinental railroad was very important and changed the country for many reasons:
1) In 1852 there had been only 5 miles of track west of the Mississippi, while in 1890 they changed into 72 000 miles.
2) Passenger cars brought settlers to Western lands in record numbers
3) Freight cars carried Western agricultural and mineral wealth back.

As regard the economy changing: in 1867 only 20 freight cars of cows were shipped east to Omaha or Kansas City for slaughter, while four years later that number had swelled to 7000, carloads.

#2: Learning Targets

1. I can explain why Reconstruction failed:

          Reconstruction failed because of many reason:

• Johnson's Reconstruction didn't want Freedmen to have rights and tried to put them in a condition similar to slavery, with the institution of Black Codes (laws which denied rights to blacks). He also refused to ratify the 14th Amendment and vetoed the Civil Rights and the Reconstruction Act. But the worst thing that happened under his leadership was that he let people whom had previously  had power in the South before, take it again. 
• Amnesty Act of 1872: the North wanted to leave South alone, and for this reason Democrats took power again on three states of South.
• Compromise of 1877: President Hayes trusted southern white people to keep black rights without the northern army, so he withdrew the troops leaving Freedmen without protection. It's for this reason that a new group of people, Ku Klux Klan, took advantage to torture, kill, murder and to convince them to leave political life. With this, the Reconstruction ends.

2. I can explain how the Dred Scott decision led to the Civil War

Dred Scott decision said that Black Men, free or slave, didn't have to be considered citizens, and for this they weren't allowed to fight for their freedom in the Court; this was one of the reasons that led to the Civil War: blacks didn't want to be slaves anymore and wanted to be considered citizens and have the same rights of whites. 

3. I can explain the differences between the two major political parties during Reconstruction

The two major political parties during Reconstruction were Republicans and Democrats.  

Republicans were on the side of the Freedmen. They believed the South should be punished for starting the war, ratified the 14th Amendment, created the Freedom's Bureau, the Civil Right Act, the Reconstruction Act and the 15th Amendment.
Democrats didn't want Freedmen to be treated equally, to have the same rights, the same laws as whites. President Johnson was a democrat, too.

4. I can state three Reconstruction Amendments and their necessity

1. 13th Amendment: abolished Slavery 
2. 14th Amendment: Freedmen had to have the same rights of whites, to be treated equally and to have the same protection under the law.
3. 15th Amendment: the right to vote is given to all people, independently of their race, color or past as a slave.

5. I can articulate the differences between the Reconstruction Plans of Johnson/Radical Republican

Johnson's Reconstruction Plans:                          
- Supported plans for Reconstruction                      
- Provided to let Southerners obtain                          
   their property and political rights                            
- Supported 13th Amendment                                    
                                         
Radical Republican's Reconstruction Plans:                                    
- Freedmen's Bureau
- Civil Rights
- Reconstruction act
- Believed that South had to be punished because they started the Civil War
- 15th Amendment