March 13, 1850 – Asa Whitney, for the third time, attempts to convince the U.S. Congress to support a transcontinental railroad.
Asa Whitney was both a creative and persistent man – a distant cousin to the famous inventor Eli Whitney. He started his impassioned work in 1844 by buying property in upstate New York, and immediately going to work drawing up his transcontinental railroad project – writing an extensive Memorial that was presented to the U.S. Congress in 1845, and again in 1848. Both attempts failed.
In 1849, Whitney traveled extensively, drumming up support for his idea. Many in Iowa were strong supporters of Whitney’s plan, and by February 1850, for example, The Iowa City Republican devoted its entire second page to the theme of the Iowa State Railroad Convention held in Iowa City. Spelling out in full detail Asa Whitney’s proposal, the article calls Asa one “who appears to possess something of the spirit of Columbus.”
On March 13, 1850, Whitney’s plan was, once again, presented to the U.S. Congress.
Records indicate that, despite the increased support around the country for Whitney’s project, the U.S. Senate – now increasingly divided, north vs. south, over the issues of slavery – once again rejected the idea, with southern states seeing it as a bill that would only benefit the North. The end result? Nothing toward Asa’s railroad project, but a Compromise of 1850, which basically allowed slavery to go unchecked, with hatred toward blacks continuing to be overlooked. A poorly-written compromise indeed – one that, many believe, marked the true beginnings of the Civil War.
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