Italy and Germany had recently been built into nations; France had finally swept aside the Empire and the Commune and established the Republic.

And what with the new agencies of railroads, steamships, cheap newspapers, cables, and telegraphs, the civilized races of mankind had begun to be knit together into a practical consolidation.
To the United States, especially, the telephone came as a friend in need.

After a hundred years of growth, the Republic was still a loose confederation of separate States, rather than one great united nation.
It had recently fallen apart for four years, with a wide gulf of blood between; and with two flags, two Presidents, and two armies.

In 1876 it was hesitating halfway between doubt and confidence, between the old political issues of North and South, and the new industrial issues of foreign trade and the development of material resources.

The West was being thrown open.