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Source Description
America Transformed: Railroad infrastructure expanded from 31,000 miles in 1860 to 130,000 miles by the 1890s. To subsidize construction, the U.S. government gave over 140 million acres of public land to railroad companies, oftentimes dispossessing Native nations in the process. This land was used to locate tracks or sold to raise capital for the railroad company. Companies argued that they deserved government support because they were creating a public good. Opponents, like those who printed this poster, argued that railroads should return this land to the government rather than profit from its sale. This 1884 poster declares that these railroad land grants would create 871,268 farms with a generous 160 acres each.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7h149v22p
label
How the public domain has been squandered, map showing the 139,403,026 acres of the people's land - equal to 871,268 farms of 160 acres each, worth at $2 an acre, $278,806,052, given by Republican congresses to railroad corporations ; this is more land than is contained in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana
core
obj
dtoType
map
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7h149v22p
contentType
map
stage
normalized
title
How the public domain has been squandered, map showing the 139,403,026 acres of the people's land - equal to 871,268 farms of 160 acres each, worth at $2 an acre, $278,806,052, given by Republican congresses to railroad corporations ; this is more land than is contained in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana
description
America Transformed: Railroad infrastructure expanded from 31,000 miles in 1860 to 130,000 miles by the 1890s. To subsidize construction, the U.S. government gave over 140 million acres of public land to railroad companies, oftentimes dispossessing Native nations in the process. This land was used to locate tracks or sold to raise capital for the railroad company. Companies argued that they deserved government support because they were creating a public good. Opponents, like those who printed this poster, argued that railroads should return this land to the government rather than profit from its sale. This 1884 poster declares that these railroad land grants would create 871,268 farms with a generous 160 acres each.
date
["1884"]
year
1884
rights
No known copyright restrictions.
rightsUri
No known restrictions on use.
reuseAllowed
no restrictions
language
English
identifierLocal
06_01_008332
creators
Rand McNally and Company
institution
Boston Public Library
collections
Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center Collection
subjects
Democratic Party (U.S.)--Platforms
Railroads--United States--Maps
Public lands--United States--Maps
Presidents--United States--Election--1884
subjectsGeographic
North and Central America
United States
genreBasic
Maps
typeOfResource
Cartographic
country
United States
thumbnailUrl
largeImageUrl
pageCount
1
source
import
pubPlace
Chicago
publisher
Rand McNally and Co.
Source extras
institutionArkId
sf268508b
collectionArkId
41688024w
schema:latitude
38
schema:longitude
-98
extent
1 map ; 29 x 39 cm.
notes
On sheet below map "We believe that the public lands ought, as far as possible, to be kept as homesteads for actual settlers; that all unearned lands heretofore improvidently granted to railroad corporations by the action of the Republican party should be restored to the public domain; and that no more grants of land shall be made to corporations, or be allowed to fall into the ownership of alien absentees. Democratic platform, 1884."
Broadside published by the Democratic Party during the 1884 presidential election between Grover Cleveland and James Blaine.
hasTranscription
no
dcId
7h149v22p
type
map
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
62e1ab3b50bc4ecd