The Invention of the Telegraph 

The first concept of the telegraph originated in the early 1700’s. The central idea of the telegraph was sending electric signals across wires. At this time, inventors were developing a system to communicate quickly across long distances. Before the invention of the telegraph, the printing press was used to send mass messages. This new technology was invented in the years leading up to the civil war. In 1861, upon the start of the war, the telegraph had been constructed and was being used to quickly and confidentially communicate with the front lines. During the war, 15,000 miles of wire was set up across the country and more than 6.5 million messages were sent. This is only one of the great accomplishment achieved post invention. The Telegraph: The Civil War Text Machine

In 1832 aboard a ship returning to Europe, it occurred to Samuel F. B. Morse that electricity could be used to communicate over distances. As a professor at New York University, Morse used his resources to develop his ideas and achieved great success. He speculated that coded messages could be sent over a wire and with the help of Professor Leonard D. Gale and Alfred Vail, key advancements were made. In 1835 he developed Morse Code (a set of sounds that corresponded to particular letters of the alphabet) and by 1838 he presented his idea of the telegraph to the U.S. Congress. Although 62 other people had claimed to invent a telegraph system by 1838, Samuel Morse was the first inventor to receive political support for his concept and an official business model for its development. There were many inventors and scientists that contributed to the development of the telegraph and no single person can be credited with the invention alone. Learning Morse Code

In 1843, backed by congress, Morse was granted $30,000 to construct a telegraph system stretching from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland. Considering the rise in inflation, that would be over $1,000,000 today. The telegraph wiring system was originally laid underground, but after realizing that faulty wires were ordered, the team needed a new plan to complete the project before the rigid deadline. Ezra Cornell, an ingenious construction engineer suggested stringing the wires overhead on trees and poles. This is how telephone poles came to be. 

May 24, 1844 marks a significant moment in history as the first message “What hath God wrought?” was sent as the first official Morse Code message. The Morse code system was then developed in other cities along the East Coast, including New York, before expanding into other parts of the country. By the 20th century, all long distance communication depended heavily on the telegraph. 

Samuel F. B. Morse - Inventor of Morse Code

The Western Union was founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company before changing its name to the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856. The company would go on to dominate the American telegraph industry for the next 100 years. Western Union is well known in the finance industry as they were the first to develop a money transfer service, making wire transfers via telegram. Yearly message transfers increased under the company from 5.8 million in 1867 to 63.2 million in 1900. 

Aside from the obvious technological benefits of this invention, (immediate communication over long distances) this invention drastically changed the markets, decreased the cost of communication, renovated the system of diplomacy facilitated growth in the railroads. Prior to the telegraph the world was very divided, especially in politics and business. Post invention, the world completely changed as information could now be sent from one country to the next in minutes.