Which event happened prior to the signing the pacific railroad act in 1862?
a. asa whitney requested the right to build a transcontinental railroad.
b. the end of the civil war freed veterans to work on the railroad.
c. the golden spike ceremony was held in honor of the transcontinental railroad. d. railroad workers drilled tunnels through the sierra nevada mountains.

The correct option is A: Asa Whitney requested the right to build a transcontinental railroad.

Before the signing of Pacific Railroad act in 1862 by president Lincoln, Asa Whitney requested the right to build a transcontinental railroad which would link the United States from east to west.

The Pacific Railway Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 1, 1862. This act provided Federal government support for the building of the first transcontinental railroad, which was completed on May 10, 1869.

1960: wilma rudolph was the first woman to win three olympic gold medals in track and field at one olympic games. she was an american sprinter from tennessee, she was acclaimed the fastest woman in the world. she was among the most visible black women in america and abroad. she became a role model for black and female athletes. she was also known as a civil rights and women right's pioneer.

1973: billy jean king is an american former number one tennis player. she represented the united states in the federal cup and the wightman cup. for three years she was the usa's captain in the federation cup. she defends gender equality and has been a pioneer for equal and social justice. at the age of 29, she won "the battle of sexes" tennis match against the 55 year old bobby riggs. she was also the founder of women's tennis association and the women's sports foundation.  

1983: tamara mckinney becomes the first american female skier to win the alpine world cup overall championship top. she was the only american to hold that title for a quarter century until 2008.

1992: manon rhéaume, from canada,   becomes the only woman to start in a national hockey league game in an exhibition game for the tampa bay lightning . she played on the canada women's national ice hockey team winning gold medals in 1992 and 1994. and silver medals in 1998. manon marked the first time a woman appeared in a regular season professional game with her first appearance against the salt lake golden eagles.

2013: serena williams won 78 of 82 matches at the age of 31. she is an american professional tennis player. she reached the number 1 ranking for the first time on july, 8, 2002. at the age of 16, she played against karsten braasch the battle of sexes. she was the highest paid female athlete in 2016. she is a unicef ambassador .

the lachish letters were written by hoshaiah, a military officer stationed possibly in mareshah,   and sent to yaush, possibly the commanding officer at lachish.

the series of letters were written in carbon ink in ancient hebrew on clay ostraca, shortly before lachish fell to the babylonian army of king nebuchadnezzar in 588/6 bc during the reign of zedekiah, king of judah.