On February 6, 1815, the state of New Jersey issued the first railroad charter in the United States to inventor and engineer John Stevens. The charter granted Stevens the right to build a railroad from the Delaware River to the Raritan River, a route that would later become part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Stevens, a pioneer of steam transportation, had been advocating for railways as a superior mode of inland transport. Though the railroad was not immediately built, the charter marked the beginning of American railroad development, which would transform the nation's economy and geography in the decades to come.

The advent of railroads in the United States would become a dominant theme in 19th-century American poetry and prose, symbolizing progress, expansion, and the transformative power of technology. Poets like Walt Whitman celebrated the railroad as a force for national unity and democratic movement. The 1815 charter, as the first legal authorization for a railroad, represents the seed of a transportation revolution that would inspire generations of writers to explore themes of speed, connectivity, and the changing American landscape.