Jake Sasso
Mrs. Branin
Feb. 9, 2016
Samuel Morse
Did you ever hear of Samuel Morse or the telegraph? Samuel Morse did not
invent the telegraph but he made key improvements to its design. It would
transform communications worldwide. Samuel Morse was born in Massachusetts
in 1791 and died in New York City on 1872. He later became a portrait painter and
professor at New York University. The world would remember him for his
scientific work on a blockbuster technology of the nineteenth century, the
telegraph.
The source Who Made America states that, first invented in 1774, the
telegraph was a bulky and impractical machine that was designed to transmit
over twenty six wires. Morse reduced that unwieldy bundle of wires into a single
one. He did not do this all himself, assisting him were two men by the names of
Leonardo Gale and Alfred Vail. In the source Morse code and the Telegraph they
stated, in 1844, Morse sent his first telegraph message, from Washington D.C, to
Baltimore, Maryland. To transmit messages across telegraph in the 1830s Morse
and Vail created what came to be known as the Morse code. The code assigned
letters in the alphabet and numbers a set of dots and dashes. Morse secured
funding from congress to build wires across the United States, and received a
patent for his invention in 1844.
Following the routes of the quickly-spreading railroads, telegraph wires
were strung across the nation and eventually, across the Atlantic Ocean providing
a nearly instant means of communication between communities for the first time.
President Abraham Lincoln received battle reports at the White House via
telegraph during the civil war. Later in the 21st century the telegraph was replaced
by the telephone. It also was replaced by the Fax machine and the internet.
Jake Sasso
Mrs. Branin
Feb. 9, 2016
Before the telegraph was replaced, in 19th century the field of electricity opened
the door to the production of the electric telegraph.
The two articles Who Made America and Morse code and the Telegraph
both provide information about the telegraph and Morse code. The article Who
Made America gives more information about Samuel Morse’s life. The source
Morse Code and the Telegraph provides more in depth information than in the
Who Made America source. It also gives information on other things like who
made the battery and who developed the electric telegraph. The source Who
Made America provides more on after the telegraph was made and how it helped.
Both these sources are useful for information on what Samuel Morse did in his
life.
Samuel Morse changed the way to communicate in the 1700s. The
telegraph warned United States president Abraham Lincoln in the civil war. It was
soon later replaced by it was very popular before then. The telegraph truly
changed the world. The first message sent in 1844 started it all. The telegraph,
Morse Code, and the man who created those things Samuel Morse will all be
remembered.