Zachary Callen - Railroads and American Political Development: Infrastructure, Federalism, and State Building

2016 by the University Press of Kansas
All rights reserved

Published by the University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas 66045 ), which was organized by the Kansas Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Callen, Zachary, author.

Title: Railroads and American political development : infrastructure,
federalism, and state building / Zachary Callen.

Description: Lawrence : University Press of Kansas, 2016 . | Includes
bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016018932 | ISBN 9780700623006 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780700623013 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Railroads and stateUnited StatesHistory. |
Infrastructure (Economics)Government policyUnited States
History. | Federal aid to transportationUnited StatesHistory.
| FederalismUnited StatesHistory. | BISAC: POLITICAL
SCIENCE / Government / National. | POLITICAL SCIENCE /
Government / State & Provincial. | TRANSPORTATION / Railroads /
History.

Classification: LCC HE 1061 .C 2016 | DDC . 0973 dc
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/ 2016018932 .

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available.

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication is recycled and contains percent postconsumer waste. It is acid free and meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z.- 1992 .

This is a project that took ten years to complete, and I certainly did not get to this point on my own. First, I have to thank Eric Oliver. The earliest ideas for this project were developed in Erics urban politics seminar during my first quarter of graduate school at the University of Chicago. At one of my (many, many) visits to Erics office hours, he handed me a pile of books to read. One of those books was by the landscape critic J. B. Jackson, and it included an essay on roads as vernacular space. I went back to Erics office and told him, with the confidence that only a first-year graduate student can muster, I want to write about roads! Eric encouraged me to pursue that interest and pushed me to think about it in light of both American state building and political geography. From this projects earliest incarnations, Eric has read many drafts of this work and engaged in hours of conversation around federalism, infrastructure, and institutional change. His thoughtful suggestions are all through this project. He took my rough ideas and gave them form, direction, and clarity. And, in the midst of all the talk about railroads, Eric became a friend. I always appreciate his thoughtful advice and fantastic stories. This project would not exist without him, and I am grateful for his guidance.

In addition to Eric, I also benefited from the time and insight of my other mentors at the University of Chicago. Mark Hansen was far too generous with his time during a period when he was very busy being Dean of Social Sciences. Marks critiques were always insightful, and he always forced me to think about both crucial details and the big picture. Elisabeth Clemens pushed my ideas to be sharper and more theoretical, and kept this project from getting out of hand. She is an inspiration. Bill Novak always provided the article or book that I never knew I needed, and made sure my history was mostly in order. I could not have asked for a better academic community while at the University of Chicago, and I am thankful for all the work Eric, Mark, Lis, and Bill put into this project.

I also have to thank the American politics workshop at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. I presented at the workshop several times, and thoughtful feedback from folks like Will Howell, Jeff Grynavski, Betsy Sinclair, John Brehm, Boris Shor, Chris Berry, Jon Rogowoski, Jamila Celestine Michener, Marissa Guerrero, and many others improved this project in ways great and small. The workshop was an incredible place where several early chapters of this project were presented, beaten around, and vastly improved as a result. I also need to thank Todd Schuble for opening me up to GIS, and Betsy Sinclair for her help with my statistical analysis. After leaving Chicago, colleagues like Bill Parsons at Carroll College as well as Jackie Gehring and Brian Harward at Allegheny College were also important sounding boards. I have a special thank you for Ben Ho, whose research work was instrumental to completing this manuscript at a critical stage. I also have to thank Jim Gimpel and Dan Carpenter, who, as the respective editors of American Politics Research and Studies in American Political Development , encouraged me to submit my work and gave me great feedback. I also have to thank four anonymous reviewers at those journals who gave me feedback that informed those pieces and shaped this book as well. I want to extend a special thank you to Chuck Myers at the University Press of Kansas. Chucks eye for detail took a very rough manuscript and made it shine. I cannot thank him enough. In addition, two anonymous reviewers at the press gave a number of exceptional comments that vastly improved this manuscript. Kelly Chrisman Jacques, Jane Raese, and Robert Demke were also invaluable. Finally, Michelle Becketts copyediting greatly improved this manuscript. I want to stress that the best ideas in this book came from these supporters, while the errors are mine and mine alone.

Throughout the many stages of this book, I was lucky to receive financial support from the University of Chicago, Carroll College, and Allegheny College. In addition, I want to acknowledge that an early version of chapter was published in Studies in American Political Development . I want to thank Cambridge University Press for allowing this version to appear here. Similarly, an early version of chapter was published in American Politics Research . I thank Sage Publications for allowing this version to also appear in this text.

Finally, I want to thank the folks who set the groundwork for this project. At Illinois State University, Manfred Steger, Lane Crothers, Jyl Josephson, Carlos Parodi, Susan Craig, T. Y. Wang, and Julie Weber provided exceptional mentorship. And, of course, theres my family. My parents always stressed the importance of education and hard work. The earliest seeds of my academic career began with them taking me to the bookstore and library again and again. I appreciate all of their encouragement. Last, but not least, thank you to Shawna and Maggie. Shawna counseled me through more than one panic-fueled moment as I worked on this project, and Maggie just makes it all worthwhile.