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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, With the advent of the railroad in the 1820s, many
3Americans held a vision of binding the nation together through
4the construction of a railroad across the country from the
5Atlantic to the Pacific; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois recognizes the importance of
7honoring efforts that provide common benefit and promote
8opportunity for all its people; and
 
9    WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific
10Railroad Act in 1862 to provide federal support for the
11building of the first transcontinental railroad; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The Central Pacific Railroad Company started
13building in Sacramento, California and continued east across
14the Sierra Nevada Mountains, while a second company, the Union
15Pacific Railroad, built westward from the Missouri River near
16the Iowa-Nebraska border; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Building the first major national transportation
18infrastructure necessitated the employment of thousands of
19workers, many of them Chinese and Irish immigrants, Mormons,
20Native Americans, Free Blacks, and others who worked together
21to construct the railroad; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The Transcontinental Railroad required the
2building of over 50 bridges and trestles and 15 tunnels through
3the most challenging terrain; and
 
4    WHEREAS, United States industrialists recruited thousands
5of Chinese workers to assist in the construction of the
6railroad; these laborers, who made up to 80 percent of the
7western workforce, were paid substandard wages and faced
8grueling hours and extremely harsh conditions in order to lay
9hundreds of miles of track; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed
11on May 10, 1869 by the joining of the two tracks with a
12symbolic "golden spike" at Promontory, Utah; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The United States Department of Labor awarded the
14Chinese railroad workers a place on the department's Hall of
15Honor in 2014 on the 145th Anniversary of the railroad's
16completion; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Before the completion of the Transcontinental
18Railroad, a journey across the United States took six months;
19after the railroad's completion, it took one week; the cost of
20such a trip was reduced from $1,000 to $150; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The impact of the Transcontinental Railroad in the
219th century has been likened to the impact of the internet in
3the 21st century, transforming communications, commerce, and
4industry and facilitating the movement of peoples across the
5country, greatly increasing the global presence of the United
6States; therefore, be it
 
7    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
8HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
9schools and leaders across the State of Illinois are encouraged
10to observe May 10, 2019 as the 150th anniversary of the
11completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and celebrate the
12tireless efforts of all of those who overcame brutal obstacles,
13both natural and technological, to achieve the dream of uniting
14the country from coast to coast; and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That we declare May 10, 2019 as "Transcontinental
16Railroad Day" in the State of Illinois; and be it further
 
17    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
18presented to the Illinois Department of Education and each
19Illinois state university.