[roussanoff]

US economic historian here. The idea that the US government funded the construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad and Panama Canal to trade with China is very, very weird.

- 1850-1890 was a period of high protectionism, highest tariffs on imports in the US history.

- A good approximation of share of traded goods in the railroads would be the share of imports+exports in the GDP. Together, exports and imports were not more than 15% of GDP. Source: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w4710/w4710..., Table 3.

- railroads transported a lot of agricultural products and also passengers, and were hugely profitable from that. I doubt they would recover any cost by transporting porcelain and whatever other goods China exported at the time.

- "But that answer is wrong, as can be shown by examining historical records of the time." - citation needed.

[somedudetbh]

Not a historian but possible other weird thing:

"(Bonus question: what did the U.S. give to China in exchange for its china?)" "(the answer to the question I posed above about what the U.S. traded to China in the 19th century is "fur")"

My understanding is that in this period, the most valuable China->US exports were tea, silk, and porcelain. The USA didn't produce anything the Chinese were interested in buying (unlike the Spanish, who had had torrents of silver coming from South American silver mines), and so British and American traders in the Canton System and Thirteen Factories period traded opium from British India to China, which of course led to the Opium Wars, British control of Hong Kong, etc.

I've never read anything about fur exports from USA to China being a big part of 19th century USA trade, but I have read a about mid-19th century booming East Coast and European demand for beaver pelts.

[thedogeye]

The answer to the bonus question is opium. In particular the Forbes family (not related to the magazine folks) traded about 20% of all the opium sold in China during this period with the other 80% coming from the British East India Company and other UK-based trading houses.

Fun fact, the Forbes family is still one of the wealthiest families in America, they own their own massive private island called Naushon Island right next to Martha's Vineyard. They also have their own family museum in Boston where you can learn about their trading history in Asia which I'm super eager to visit And the patriarch of the Forbes Family today is... wait for it... John Kerry. When Obama made Kerry his secretary of state the Chinese weren't super thrilled, they have a long memory.

[cossatot]

Fur exports from North America to China were the major reason for the European exploration of western North America in the 17th and 18th centuries, and into the earliest 19th century. The Chinese elite used fur pelts to line their robes. Sea otter, which has the highest follicle density of any mammal, was the most favored (and I believe imperially mandated for the highest ranking mandarins) and the pelts were incredibly valuable. The Spanish and English exploration of the Pacific Northwest was largely done by trade expeditions which would trade various goods for pelts with the various Native tribes, and then sail to Canton to trade the pelts for Chinese goods. The Russians more or less enslaved some of the tribes of the Aleutians (the Unangan people) and brought them as far south as central California in their trade ships; the Unangan hunters hunted from sea kayaks by day.

Both the North West Company (British) and John Jacob Astor (US) set up transcontinental overland trade networks in the late 18th and early 19th century focused on the fur trade, with China being a primary customer for pelts.

I think in the first few decades of the 19th century, Chinese Imperial fashions changed and much of this system collapsed, although not fast enough to prevent the near-eradication of the sea otter population.

A good pop history of the US Overland component is Astoria by Peter Heller. It is also addressed a bit in more scholarly work such as the Columbia's River: Voyages of Robert Gray, by J. Richard Nokes.

[Projectiboga]

America exported things to China in the 19th century. One random example is many rickshaws used in Asia back then were made in Burlington NJ. New Jersey built up a huge light industrial base over the 17th & 18th centuries as they were the initial colonial iron source. They also had a special surface water high in tannic acid which was key to successful transoceanic navigation. That water stayed clean. So even as those two industries declined they had plenty of timber and steel machinery to make into finished products which were easy to ship on the rivers from there to the ports on the Delaware river.

[pacman2]

I don't know about the Panama Canal, but the rest is true (mainly UK).

" ... transporting porcelain and whatever other goods China exported at the time."

China exported Silk, porcelain and tea like the is no tomorrow but did not buy anything. At one point China accumulated a huge part of the world silver reserves, sucking liquidity out of the western economy. Opium "solved" this problem.

It was my understanding that the Opium trade was mainly a GB thing. I was not aware that the US was involved.

[asdff]

If trading opportunities were the answer it would have been reported as much at the time imo. Here is the justification from the U.S. house of representatives about the project at the time, in 1856:

"The necessity that now exists for constructing lines of railroad and telegraphic communication between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of this continent is no longer a question for argument; it is conceded by every one. In order to maintain our present position on the Pacific, we must have some more speedy and direct means of intercourse than is at present afforded by the route through the possessions of a foreign power" (1)

The reason seemed to be just geopolitics rather than trading opportunities. I'm curious if you know what route they were referring to in this quote that routed through a foreign power? An oversea route maybe? In 1856 we had territory coast to coast already so the caravan routes were within our possessions.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_transcontinental_railroa...

[roussanoff]

I am not that familiar with the history of railroads, but I will speculate:

- take the railroad as far west as possible, then a stagecoach (expensive, slow, uncomfortable). The land route was created after the Gold Rush: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Trail

- ship to Panama, cross by land in Panama, ship from Panama to California (cheaper, slower, risk of disease like malaria)

- ship around South America. Yep, all the way to Antarctica, through Magellan Strait. (even cheaper, even slower, risks from travelling by the sea). This route seems crazy if you look at the map. However, for goods, it was very much in use before Panama Channel was built. Sea is so much easier than land.

I am not sure what "foreign power" this quote refers to though. Panama? Chile? Maybe you could also go through Mexico?

[fsckboy]

> just geopolitics rather than trading opportunities

at that time geopolitics were completely intertwined with trading opportunities, as was "our position in the Pacific"

[_dain_]

They had to sail around the bottom of South America.

[hinkley]

1853 is when Admiral Perry showed up in Japan with gun boats and said "You will trade with us." Whatever the confusing economics were of trade with East Asia, we were not only active over there, we were being rudely pushy about it.

[MkNape]

I’ve always wondered if one of the reasons was to protect the Union. Would be a lot easier to prevent states from seceding, and defend US borders when you can quickly transport soldiers (plus equipment, food, etc.) to where they’re needed.

[roussanoff]

I don't think there is a single answer to "why the US built railroads", but both the railroads and the Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System certainly had something to do with the military needs.

[myohmy]

I would imagine so. The CN railroad was specifically built to transport soldiers from eastern Canada to BC to defend against American machinations. (Not for expansion, nope, no way, we didn't want Alaska anyways!)

[lisper]

For the record, the idea that the transcontinental railway was built to link the east coast with China was not mine, it was Donald Gibbs's.

[ravitation]

That seems mostly irrelevant, aside from maybe providing credit. The way in which you "co-opt" it in this piece is not as some questionable hypothesis, whose veracity is unimportant - which seems to be your intent based on this comment and the rest of the actual piece. It's hard to see how you are not explicitly endorsing this hypothesis when you have unquoted lines like "but that answer is wrong, as can be shown by examining historical records of the time." You are not saying that Donald Gibbs thinks this is wrong, you are saying you think it's wrong.

[practicallytru]

That's more or less how the railroad has since served the {Chinese-American, } people who worked so hard to build it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_transcontinental_railroa...

[Synaesthesia]

Well that's the government intervening in the economy (protectionism) to support local corporations.

BTW you should check the work of economist Michael Hudson, I think he's the foremost expert in this realm.