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A 150-Year-Old Lesson in Building National Unity ‘If Not in Spirit, in Fact’ A Coast-to-Coast Marriage of American Railroads
(about 4 hours later)
BOZEMAN, Mont. — A president can get a lot done in Washington when a slew of congressmen — the ones who hate his guts — skip town for four years. In 1862 alone, between the blood baths at Shiloh in April and Antietam in September, President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, created the indispensable Department of Agriculture — “the people’s department,” the former boy bumpkin called it — and signed into law a series of westward-facing bills that the secessionist quitters would have never O.K.’d, including the Homestead Act on May 20 and the Pacific Railway Act on July 1.BOZEMAN, Mont. — A president can get a lot done in Washington when a slew of congressmen — the ones who hate his guts — skip town for four years. In 1862 alone, between the blood baths at Shiloh in April and Antietam in September, President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, created the indispensable Department of Agriculture — “the people’s department,” the former boy bumpkin called it — and signed into law a series of westward-facing bills that the secessionist quitters would have never O.K.’d, including the Homestead Act on May 20 and the Pacific Railway Act on July 1.
The railroad bill established a transcontinental telegraph line and link to established eastern railroads originating at the Missouri River. The Union Pacific — manned by Irishmen, Civil War veterans and emancipated slaves — would advance across Nebraska toward Central Pacific tracks forged by Chinese laborers starting in Sacramento, across the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Mormon settlements near the Great Salt Lake.The railroad bill established a transcontinental telegraph line and link to established eastern railroads originating at the Missouri River. The Union Pacific — manned by Irishmen, Civil War veterans and emancipated slaves — would advance across Nebraska toward Central Pacific tracks forged by Chinese laborers starting in Sacramento, across the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Mormon settlements near the Great Salt Lake.
Which brought me, not to brag, to “Spike 150,” a transportation history party in rural Utah. On May 10, about 20,000 people, including Mitt Romney in jeans, gathered at the Golden Spike National Historical Park in Promontory Summit; we were there to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the merger of the eastern and western tracks.Which brought me, not to brag, to “Spike 150,” a transportation history party in rural Utah. On May 10, about 20,000 people, including Mitt Romney in jeans, gathered at the Golden Spike National Historical Park in Promontory Summit; we were there to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the merger of the eastern and western tracks.
The dark side of the Transcontinental Railroad is a story of greed, corruption, venereal disease, pay disparities between white and Chinese laborers, violence unleashed by and against the Plains tribes, and — given the ungodly amount of timber required for ties, bridges, cars and fuel — deforestation. But it is mostly, and justifiably, beloved as a sort of infrastructure Appomattox.The dark side of the Transcontinental Railroad is a story of greed, corruption, venereal disease, pay disparities between white and Chinese laborers, violence unleashed by and against the Plains tribes, and — given the ungodly amount of timber required for ties, bridges, cars and fuel — deforestation. But it is mostly, and justifiably, beloved as a sort of infrastructure Appomattox.
The marriage of the railroads, and therefore the Atlantic and the Pacific, simulcast coast to coast by telegraph on May 10, 1869, symbolized, as the keynote speaker Jon Meacham told the “Spike 150” crowd, that just four years after the end of the Civil War, the United States was once again united, “if not in spirit, in fact.”The marriage of the railroads, and therefore the Atlantic and the Pacific, simulcast coast to coast by telegraph on May 10, 1869, symbolized, as the keynote speaker Jon Meacham told the “Spike 150” crowd, that just four years after the end of the Civil War, the United States was once again united, “if not in spirit, in fact.”
Given that Beto O’Rourke’s Texas Senate campaign politicized Willie Nelson, the final American we had all agreed to like, it was tempting to be too chastened by memories of lost solidarity. Especially when you’re getting a sunburn watching the premiere of a new musical titled “As One,” in which actors playing ex-slaves and Chinese and Irish immigrants sing about a man’s need to “blow off steam” while dancing with women who might represent the prostitutes the railroad workers patronized (if only because it’s rare to see that many sleeveless dresses in Utah).Given that Beto O’Rourke’s Texas Senate campaign politicized Willie Nelson, the final American we had all agreed to like, it was tempting to be too chastened by memories of lost solidarity. Especially when you’re getting a sunburn watching the premiere of a new musical titled “As One,” in which actors playing ex-slaves and Chinese and Irish immigrants sing about a man’s need to “blow off steam” while dancing with women who might represent the prostitutes the railroad workers patronized (if only because it’s rare to see that many sleeveless dresses in Utah).
This is how extreme things are right now: I was excited to meet Mitt Romney. The old-timey Republican of yore smiled through a photo op for the unveiling of a new sculpture of an American bison, a species that almost went extinct when, among other things, travelers on the railroad we had gathered to glorify shot buffalo from the windows of passing trains. Yet on the drive home to Montana, outside West Yellowstone my family and I were almost murdered by seven bison lunging out in front of our car. So to do the endangered species math, apparently buffalo now outnumber moderate Republicans seven to one.This is how extreme things are right now: I was excited to meet Mitt Romney. The old-timey Republican of yore smiled through a photo op for the unveiling of a new sculpture of an American bison, a species that almost went extinct when, among other things, travelers on the railroad we had gathered to glorify shot buffalo from the windows of passing trains. Yet on the drive home to Montana, outside West Yellowstone my family and I were almost murdered by seven bison lunging out in front of our car. So to do the endangered species math, apparently buffalo now outnumber moderate Republicans seven to one.
The last time I came to Promontory Summit was in 1995, not long after Timothy McVeigh — wearing a T-shirt printed with words shrieked by John Wilkes Booth as he assassinated President Lincoln — bombed our fellow citizens in Oklahoma City. Visiting Promontory Summit is always relevant and accusatory because the United States is always about to come undone. The Civil War is not only the defining event in American history, it’s the central metaphor of our public life.The last time I came to Promontory Summit was in 1995, not long after Timothy McVeigh — wearing a T-shirt printed with words shrieked by John Wilkes Booth as he assassinated President Lincoln — bombed our fellow citizens in Oklahoma City. Visiting Promontory Summit is always relevant and accusatory because the United States is always about to come undone. The Civil War is not only the defining event in American history, it’s the central metaphor of our public life.
Still, Mr. Meacham wondered, “I would rather be dealing with Facebook than Fort Sumter, wouldn’t you?” I would — way less humid. My sister Amy was there with me, hearing the shout-out for the attendee Sandy Dodge, a descendant of the Union Army general and railroad engineer who advised President Lincoln on the Union Pacific’s route. It’s a sign of national healing that when I informed Amy that during the Civil War, Mr. Dodge’s ancestor Grenville was shooting at our Confederate great-great-grandfather Stephen at the Battle of Pea Ridge, all she said was, “Howdy, neighbor.”Still, Mr. Meacham wondered, “I would rather be dealing with Facebook than Fort Sumter, wouldn’t you?” I would — way less humid. My sister Amy was there with me, hearing the shout-out for the attendee Sandy Dodge, a descendant of the Union Army general and railroad engineer who advised President Lincoln on the Union Pacific’s route. It’s a sign of national healing that when I informed Amy that during the Civil War, Mr. Dodge’s ancestor Grenville was shooting at our Confederate great-great-grandfather Stephen at the Battle of Pea Ridge, all she said was, “Howdy, neighbor.”
It was worth a six-hour drive to get there just to hear the joy in Connie Young Yu’s voice as she proclaimed, “I am a descendant of a Chinese railroad worker, an American, speaking about American history.” Fifty years ago, at the centennial in 1969, Philip Choy, president of the Chinese Historical Society, was bumped from the official festivities by the arrival of a surprise guest, John Wayne; and Ms. Yu’s mother, the only descendant of Chinese railroad laborers present, had to listen to Secretary of Transportation John Volpe utter this baloney: “Who else but Americans could chisel through miles of solid granite?”It was worth a six-hour drive to get there just to hear the joy in Connie Young Yu’s voice as she proclaimed, “I am a descendant of a Chinese railroad worker, an American, speaking about American history.” Fifty years ago, at the centennial in 1969, Philip Choy, president of the Chinese Historical Society, was bumped from the official festivities by the arrival of a surprise guest, John Wayne; and Ms. Yu’s mother, the only descendant of Chinese railroad laborers present, had to listen to Secretary of Transportation John Volpe utter this baloney: “Who else but Americans could chisel through miles of solid granite?”
Ms. Yu enumerated the deadly challenges faced by her great-grandfather Lee Wong Sang of Guangdong Province and thousands of his countrymen, digging and blasting through the snowy Sierra as they inched toward Utah. There, with a handful of Irishmen, they famously laid 10 miles of track in a single day. “This record-setting feat on the road to Promontory is unequaled in history,” she marveled. “The trust and cooperation between workers with a common purpose was a zenith of the human spirit.”Ms. Yu enumerated the deadly challenges faced by her great-grandfather Lee Wong Sang of Guangdong Province and thousands of his countrymen, digging and blasting through the snowy Sierra as they inched toward Utah. There, with a handful of Irishmen, they famously laid 10 miles of track in a single day. “This record-setting feat on the road to Promontory is unequaled in history,” she marveled. “The trust and cooperation between workers with a common purpose was a zenith of the human spirit.”
A few days after the sesquicentennial, President Trump, whose German grandfather arrived on these shores and found work as a barber before owning brothels, unveiled a snobby new “merit-based” immigration plan, aimed at privileging impeccably educated, English-speaking immigrants. The plan was promptly laughed into oblivion, most notably by the speaker of the House, Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, who dismissed it as “condescending.”A few days after the sesquicentennial, President Trump, whose German grandfather arrived on these shores and found work as a barber before owning brothels, unveiled a snobby new “merit-based” immigration plan, aimed at privileging impeccably educated, English-speaking immigrants. The plan was promptly laughed into oblivion, most notably by the speaker of the House, Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, who dismissed it as “condescending.”
The one thing we all have in common, besides an eroding devotion to the Constitution that young Abraham Lincoln revered as the shared “political religion of the nation,” is the fact that at some point in the last 40,000 or more years a citizen or her ancestors migrated to the Americas from another continent, some not by choice and others well before Angles and Saxons rowed across the North Sea and invented English.The one thing we all have in common, besides an eroding devotion to the Constitution that young Abraham Lincoln revered as the shared “political religion of the nation,” is the fact that at some point in the last 40,000 or more years a citizen or her ancestors migrated to the Americas from another continent, some not by choice and others well before Angles and Saxons rowed across the North Sea and invented English.
One hopeful lesson of the United States in general — and the Transcontinental Railroad in particular — is that the renewable resource of (paid) immigrant labor has nearly nothing but merit. When I got home from Utah, I dug up an old family memoir about my great-great-grandparents David and Carolina Larm, who emigrated from Sweden in 1890 with their 12 children. Upon arrival in Kansas City, David got a job as a janitor. His son Karl, who went by Charley in Kansas, quoted the Old Testament to explain the new citizens’ success: “They had a mind to work.”One hopeful lesson of the United States in general — and the Transcontinental Railroad in particular — is that the renewable resource of (paid) immigrant labor has nearly nothing but merit. When I got home from Utah, I dug up an old family memoir about my great-great-grandparents David and Carolina Larm, who emigrated from Sweden in 1890 with their 12 children. Upon arrival in Kansas City, David got a job as a janitor. His son Karl, who went by Charley in Kansas, quoted the Old Testament to explain the new citizens’ success: “They had a mind to work.”
Sarah Vowell, a contributing opinion writer, is the author of "The Wordy Shipmates” and “Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.”Sarah Vowell, a contributing opinion writer, is the author of "The Wordy Shipmates” and “Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.”
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