<P> The original Act 's long title was 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 . It was based largely on a proposed bill originally reported six years earlier on August 16 , 1856 , to the 34th Congress by the Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph . Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 1 , 1862 , the 1862 Act authorized extensive land grants in the Western United States and the issuance of 30 - year government bonds ( at 6 percent ) to the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad ( later the Southern Pacific Railroad ) companies in order to construct a continuous transcontinental railroad between the eastern side of the Missouri River at Council Bluffs , Iowa ( opposite from Omaha , Nebraska ) and the navigable waters of the Sacramento River in Sacramento , California . Section 2 of the Act granted each Company contiguous rights of way for their rail lines as well as all public lands within 200 feet ( 61 m ) on either side of the track . </P>
<P> The original Act 's long title was 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 . It was based largely on a proposed bill originally reported six years earlier on August 16 , 1856 , to the 34th Congress by the Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph . Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 1 , 1862 , the 1862 Act authorized extensive land grants in the Western United States and the issuance of 30 - year government bonds ( at 6 percent ) to the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad ( later the Southern Pacific Railroad ) companies in order to construct a continuous transcontinental railroad between the eastern side of the Missouri River at Council Bluffs , Iowa ( opposite from Omaha , Nebraska ) and the navigable waters of the Sacramento River in Sacramento , California . Section 2 of the Act granted each Company contiguous rights of way for their rail lines as well as all public lands within 200 feet ( 61 m ) on either side of the track . </P>
when was congress able to pass legislation that authorized a transcontinental railroad
when was congress able to pass legislation that authorized a transcontinental railroad
July 1 , 1862
July 1 , 1862