The less imperial path: the Mississippi Valley, US expansionism, and engineer James B. Eads’ failure to build a ship railway

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article centers around the failed attempt of US engineer James Eads to link the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico by constructing a ship railway across Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec during the 1880s. The article examines the numerous factors that contributed to the project’s failure while arguing that it was a legitimate contender among transisthmian routes of the era, represents Mississippi Valley elites’ attempt to maintain national and international influence during the Gilded Age, and is exhibitive of a foreign policy of US expansion based on international collaboration that lost ground to more unilateral approaches.