There were few towns along the route of the
railroads. why was this a challenge?

your answer would be (a)

answer: secession

secession, as it applies to the outbreak of the american civil war, comprises the series of events that began on december 20, 1860, and extended through june 8 of the next year when eleven states in the lower and upper south severed their ties with the union. the first seven seceding states of the lower south set up a provisional government at montgomery, alabama. after hostilities began at fort sumter in charleston harbor on april 12, 1861, the border states of virginia, arkansas, tennessee, and north carolina joined the new government, which then moved its capital to richmond, virginia. the union was thus divided approximately on geographic lines. twenty-one northern and border states retained the style and title of the united states, while the eleven slave states adopted the nomenclature of the confederate states of america.

explanation:

                the united states presidential election of 1912 was the 32nd quadrennial presidential election, held on tuesday, november 5, 1912. the election was a rare four-way contest.

                incumbent president william howard taft was renominated by the republican party with the support of its conservative wing. after former president theodore roosevelt failed to receive the republican nomination, he called his own convention and created the progressive party (nicknamed the "bull moose party"). it nominated roosevelt and ran candidates for other offices in major states. democrat woodrow wilson was finally nominated on the 46th ballot of a contentious convention, to the support of william jennings bryan, the three-time democratic presidential candidate who still had a large and loyal following in 1912. eugene v. debs, running for a fourth time, was the nominee of the socialist party of america.

                wilson won the election, gaining a large majority in the electoral college and winning 42% of the popular vote, while roosevelt won 27%, taft 23% and debs 6%. wilson became the only elected president from the democratic party between 1892 and 1932, and the second of only two democrats to be elected president between 1860 and 1932. this was the last election in which a candidate who was not a republican or democrat came second in either the popular vote or the electoral college, and the first election in which all 48 states of the contiguous united states participated.

hope this !

-austint1414