In 1830, America was an agrarian nation slowly inching its way west across the continent, but that was about to change spectacularly with the introduction of the steam locomotive and railroads.
By 1840 the railroad building boom was on and all of America was gripped by railroad fever and the expectation railroads offered to become a leading industrial power.
During the Civil War Railroads dramatically changed the way war was waged forever. But even more significantly for America, President Abraham Lincoln set the course for railroads to place the nation on the path to greatness as a world power.
The Gilded Age, an era of great wealth and vast power, was driven by the railroad industry. It was also a period when the Federal government finally decided to step off the sidelines and help direct the nation's economy by controlling the railroads.