Pennsylvania Railroad

(noun)

The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR) was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy," the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PRR proved to be a good recruiter for African Americans seeking industrial jobs during the Great Migration.

Related Terms

Examples of Pennsylvania Railroad in the following topics:

  • The Railroad Strikes

    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became the site of the worst violence.
    • Thomas Alexander Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad, often considered one of the first robber barons, suggested that the strikers should be given, "a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread."
    • Pennsylvania's third major industrial city at the time, Reading, was also hit by the fury.
    • Burning of the Pennsylvania Railroad and Union Depot, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 21–22, 1877.
    • Analyze the two railroad strikes that occurred during the Gilded Age

  • Transportation: Roads, Canals, and Railroads

    • Railroads provided a quick, scheduled, and year-round mode of transportation.
    • Beginning in 1826, several states chartered railroads, including Massachusetts, New York, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
    • The most prominent early railroad was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), which linked the port of Baltimore to the Ohio River and offered passenger and freight service as of 1830.
    • Celebration of completion of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869
    • Railroads came to play a major role in westward expansion in the late nineteenth century.

  • The Molly Maguires

    • In the 1870s, the Reading Railroad blamed the deals of two dozen mine foremen and administrators on a secret society of Irishmen called the "Molly Maguires. " Although the Reading Railroad hired a Pinkerton undercover detective to investigate, it is highly probable that most of the men accused and executed for being Molly Maguires were innocent.
    • During the mid 19th century, "hard coal" mining came to dominate northeastern Pennsylvania.
    • By the 1870s, powerful financial syndicates controlled the railroads and the coalfields.
    • The union grew powerful; thirty thousand members — 85% of Pennsylvania's anthracite miners — had joined.
    • In addition to the railroad, Gowen owned two-thirds of the coal mines in southeastern Pennsylvania.

  • Inventions, Development, and Tycoons

    • An explosion of new discoveries and inventions took place, causing such profound changes that some termed the results a "second industrial revolution. " Oil was discovered in western Pennsylvania.
    • Refrigeration railroad cars came into use.
    • Coal was found in abundance in the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania south to Kentucky.
    • Other giants in addition to Rockefeller and Ford included Jay Gould, who made his money in railroads; J.
    • The crucial change came with the emergence of the corporation, which appeared first in the railroad industry and then elsewhere.

  • From Gradualism to Abolition

    • Those enslaved in Pennsylvania before the 1780 law went into effect remained enslaved for life.
    • In 1847, the Pennsylvania legislature passed another act freeing its slaves altogether.
    • Pennsylvania's "gradual abolition"—as opposed to Massachusetts's 1783 "instant abolition"—became a model for freeing slaves in other Northern states.
    • With the exception of New Jersey, these states were not as conservative as Pennsylvania about slaveholders' property rights.
    • Many American abolitionists took an active role in opposing slavery by supporting the Underground Railroad.

  • Slavery and Liberty

    • The principal organized bodies to advocate these reforms in the North were the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and the New York Manumission Society.
    • The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by black slaves to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause.
    • One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the "Railroad" .
    • "Conductors" on the railroad came from various backgrounds and included free-born blacks, white abolitionists, former slaves, and Native Americans.
    • Many slaves fled through the Underground Railroad, seeking freedom in the North.

  • The Transformed National Economy

    • Refrigeration railroad cars came into use.
    • Coal was found in abundance in the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania south to Kentucky.
    • Oil was discovered in Western Pennsylvania.
    • Other giants in addition to Rockefeller and Ford included Jay Gould, who made his money in railroads, J.
    • Of the country's 364 railroads, 89 went bankrupt.

  • Conclusion: The State of Slavery before the War

    • The Underground Railroad, formed in the early nineteenth century as a network of abolitionists and sympathizers who provided safe passage to escaping slaves, is one such example of resistance.
    • One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the Railroad.
    • The Pennsylvania legislature in 1780 was the first government in the Western Hemisphere to pass an act to begin the process of abolition.
    • An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery prohibited further importation of slaves into the state, required slaveholders to register their slaves, and provided that all children born in Pennsylvania were free regardless of the condition or race of their parents.
    • Pennsylvania’s act provided a model for other states, but many such gradual emancipation acts failed to change the status of adults enslaved prior to legislation coming into effect.

  • Education and the Professions

    • The Gilded Age in America was based on heavy industry such as factories, railroads and coal mining.
    • The iconic event was the opening of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, providing six-day service between the East Coast and San Francisco.
    • Railroads invented complex bureaucratic systems, using middle managers, and set up explicit career tracks.
    • Oil became an important resource beginning with the Pennsylvania oil fields.
    • Cornelius Vanderbilt started out as a sailor in New York harbor; then took part in the transportation revolution, from steamboats to railroads.

  • The Labor Movement's Early Years

    • The first significant national labor organization was the Knights of Labor, founded among garment cutters in 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and dedicated to organizing all workers for their general welfare.
    • The Knights won a strike against railroads owned by American millionaire Jay Gould in the mid-1880s, but they lost a second strike against those railroads in 1886.