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
Item Information
- 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.
- Creator:
- Rand McNally and Company
- Name on Item:
-
Rand, McNally & Co., Engr's. Chicago.
- Date:
-
1884
- Format:
-
Maps/Atlases
- Location:
-
Boston Public Library
Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center - Collection (local):
-
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
- Places:
-
United States
- Extent:
- 1 map ; 29 x 39 cm.
- Terms of Use:
-
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
- Publisher:
-
Chicago :
Rand McNally and Co.
- Scale:
-
Scale [1:11,400,000]
- Language:
-
English
- 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.
- Notes (exhibitions):
-
Exhibited: "America Transformed. Part 2: Homesteads to Modern Cities," organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, 2019-2020.
- Identifier:
-
06_01_008332
- Call #:
-
G3701.P1 1884 .R35
- Barcode:
-
39999065652289
- LCCN:
-
2006627679
IIIF Manifest