Question

What enabled the railroad industry to expand rapidly across the United States in the 1800s? A. Receiving federal land grants to build tracks across the nation. B. Raising the price so high that no one can travel on the railroads. C. Letting the President of the United States run the railroads. D. Being able to build faster, more expensive locomotives.​

Answer 1

A. Receiving federal land grants to build tracks across the nation enabled the railroad industry to expand rapidly across the United States in the 1800s.

The expansion of the railroad industry in the United States during the 1800s was largely due to federal land grants given to railroad companies by the government. The land grants gave railroad companies large plots of land to build their tracks and railways across the country. This allowed for faster transportation of goods and people, which greatly improved the economy and helped to settle the western frontier. Therefore, the statement that best explains the rapid expansion of the railroad industry in the United States in the 1800s is that they received federal land grants to build tracks across the nation.