Skip to main content
SHEG

User account menu

  • Register
  • Log in

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Reading Like a Historian History Lessons
  • Beyond the Bubble History Assessments
  • Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum

Secondary navigation

  • About
    • History of SHEG
    • People
    • Updates
    • In the News
    • Professional Development
    • Testimonials
    • Links
  • Events
  • Projects
  • Publications

Register today!

Our lessons and assessments are available for free download once you've created an account.
Create an Account

Breadcrumb

  1. History Assessments
  2. Background Knowledge
  3. The Gilded Age
  4. Transcontinental Railroad Significance
Topic: U.S. History
Historical Skills: Background Knowledge, Contextualization
Time Period: The Gilded Age
  • Assessment
  • Rubric

Alternative Versions of Assessment

  • Olympics Protest
  • Berlin Airlift
  • Buddhist Monk Protest
  • Greensboro Sit-Ins
  • Iwo Jima
  • Kent State
  • Little Rock
  • Migrant Mother Significance
  • Nagasaki
  • Napalm in Vietnam
  • Oswald Assassination
  • Soviets in Berlin
  • Soweto Uprising

Transcontinental Railroad Significance

To answer this question correctly, students must identify the event depicted in a historical photograph and clearly explain why the event is historically significant. For the first question, successful students will identify this as the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. For Question 2, successful students might elaborate on one or more of the following:

  • The completion of the first transcontinental railroad revolutionized travel, connecting areas of the Western United States with the East. Prior to its completion, traveling to the West Coast from the East required months of dangerous overland travel or an arduous trip by boat around the southern tip of South America.
  • Telegraph lines built along the tracks facilitated rapid communication between the East Coast and the West Coast.
  • The completion of the railroad facilitated Westward migration by white Americans, leading to increased conflict with Native American nations in the West. 
  • The Central Pacific Railroad recruited thousands of Chinese immigrants to build the railroad. Many of these workers stayed in the United States, establishing large communities of Chinese immigrants on the West Coast.

Level: Proficient

Question 1
Student clearly and specifically identifies the event depicted in the photograph.

Question 2 
Student clearly and specifically explains why the event was historically significant.

Level: Emergent

Question 1 
Student provides correct information related to the event but does not clearly identify the significant event.

Question 2 
Student correctly elaborates on the event but does not clearly explain why the event is historically significant.

Level: Basic

Question 1 
Student does not correctly identify the event.

Question 2 
Student does not provide a correct or relevant explanation for why the event was historically significant.

Download Materials

Transcontinental Railroad Significance Assessment Register or Log in to download
Transcontinental Railroad Significance Rubric Register or Log in to download
Hand Shake at Promontory Point - Library of Congress Register or Log in to access

Alternative Versions of Assessment

  • Olympics 1968 image

    Olympics Protest

    View assessment
  • Photo of a U.S. Air Force airplane landing in Berlin. Library of Congress

    Berlin Airlift

    View assessment
  • Buddhist Monk protest, 1963

    Buddhist Monk Protest

    View assessment
  • Greensboro sit-ins image

    Greensboro Sit-Ins

    View assessment
  • Iwo Jima image

    Iwo Jima

    View assessment
  • Kent State photograph

    Kent State

    View assessment
  • Little Rock image

    Little Rock

    View assessment
  • Migrant Mother image

    Migrant Mother Significance

    View assessment
  • Nagasaki image

    Nagasaki

    View assessment
  • Napalm image

    Napalm in Vietnam

    View assessment
  • Oswald Assassination photograph

    Oswald Assassination

    View assessment
  • Soviet flag over the Reichstag image

    Soviets in Berlin

    View assessment
  • Soweto Uprising image

    Soweto Uprising

    View assessment
Home

Support us

We’re committed to providing educators accessible, high-quality teaching tools. That’s why all our lessons and assessments are free. Please consider donating to SHEG to support our creation of new materials. All gifts are made through Stanford University and are tax-deductible.

Contact usSupport us

© Stanford University     |     485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305     |    Privacy Policy

facebooktwitteryoutube