Which U.S. law of 1862 authorized construction of the first transcontinental railroad?

The Pacific Railway Act of 1862 authorized construction of the first transcontinental railroad.

President Abraham Lincoln signed the act into law on July 1, 1862, during the Civil War. It supported a railroad and telegraph line linking the Missouri River with the Pacific coast and created the framework for two major builders: the Union Pacific, working westward from the Missouri River, and the Central Pacific, working eastward from Sacramento.

The legislation provided federal government bonds and extensive land grants, making the enormous project financially possible. Its route ultimately brought the two companies together at Promontory Summit in Utah Territory in 1869.

The answer is sometimes confused with the Homestead Act, which encouraged settlement by granting land to individuals, or the Morrill Act, which supported colleges focused on agriculture and mechanical arts. Later Pacific Railroad Acts amended the original law, but the 1862 act was the foundational authorization.