You Did Not Build the Railroad
This summer, a prominent history museum in the city where I live is displaying several pages from the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. I confess to being a "history geek," the kind of person who drives friends and family crazy by lingering in history museums while trying to "feel" the meaning of the artifacts on display. People who do that tend to spend a lot longer in the museum than do others. In the case of the Pacific Railway Act, there are many cognitive and visceral reactions that one can experience. Of course, it is moving to scan to the end of this document, and see with your own eyes the signature of President Abraham Lincoln. I wonder if he used numerous "ceremonial quills" to sign this seminal act into law on July 1, 1862. My hunch is that Lincoln signed the act without the hype that modern presidents have come to employ, in spite of the overwhelming importance of this act. More important than the signature of our sixteenth preside