An image of The Pacific Railway Act, authorizing and funding the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. (National Archives)

"An Act To aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes."
~ The Pacific Railway Act, 1862

On July 1, 1862,  the second year of the Civil War, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act to connect the nation together. In the same year, Congress approved this act, assigning two railway companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to construct the Transcontinental Railroad. The Central Pacific, employing over 10,000 Chinese workers, started construction eastward from Sacramento, California. While the intention of this railroad was to fuse a divided nation in the midst of Civil War, it also fostered division between ethnic groups, especially discrimination against Chinese and Native Americans.