What It Was Like to Ride the Transcontinental Railroad

Georgia Governor (and future US president) Jimmy Carter campaigns for the Democratic nomination for President as he speaks at the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC, (Photo by Arnie Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)

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Erin Blakemore

Erin Blakemore is an award-winning journalist who lives and works in Boulder, Colorado. Learn more at erinblakemore.com

Erin Blakemore Archives | HISTORY

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HISTORY

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America’s Founding Fathers decided that one elected civilian—the U.S. president—would lead the executive branch of the federal government, a governmental structure that has remained in place for more than 200 years.

U.S. Presidents

The 1960s was one of the most tumultuous and divisive decades in world history. The era was marked by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and antiwar protests, countercultural movements, political assassinations and the emerging "generation gap."

1960s

The 1950s were a decade marked by the post-World War II boom, the dawn of the Cold War and the civil rights movement in the United States. At this time the U.S. economy was booming and more (mostly white) Americans could afford new cars, suburban houses and other consumer goods. But the 1950s also saw great conflict and division, from the nascent civil rights movement to the crusade against communism at home and abroad in the Korean War.

1950s

Though the 19th century saw the rise of populism, the labor movement and Jacksonian democracy, it also ushered in the Gilded Age, when men like Cornelius Vanderbilt and J. P. Morgan wielded vast control over politics and business.

19th Century

Natural disasters and changes in the environment, such as global warming, the San Francisco Earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the Galveston Hurricane, the Krakatoa eruption and others, have profoundly shaped human history. Explore both the sudden and long-term impacts of natural and human-made disasters.

Erin Blakemore

Stories

Former President Jimmy Carter Dies at Age 100

Tupperware Parties: Suburban Women’s Plastic Path to Empowerment

How the 1871 Peshtigo Fire Became America’s Deadliest Wildfire

What Was It Like to Ride the Transcontinental Railroad?