The Old Supreme Court Chamber: Morse's Telegraph

            “What Hath God Wrought?”  Unbeknownst to many, the dots and dashes that first tapped out this simplistic message were the beginning of a revolution.  Samuel Finley Breese Morse, born in 1791, was trained under his father, Jedidiah Morse, a notable geographer, devout Puritan, and “eminent divine.”[1]  Attending Yale College at the age of fifteen, Morse studied under Jeremiah Day, “America’s ablest teacher” of natural philosophy, and used that knowledge to enhance and enable the success of his later inventions.[2]  After pursuing a career as a painter (and training under notables such as Benjamin West in London and others in Paris and Rome), Morse reluctantly laid his artistic aspirations to rest.[3]  While aboard the Sully travelling back to America, Morse providentially found himself in the company of Dr. Charles T. Jackson and the prized “electro-magnet” he was transporting across the Atlantic.[4]  After a series of questions between Morse and Jackson, it finally hit the young American.[5]  Eureka!  “An idea had been born!”[6]  Upon arrival, Morse set out to perfect his plan of using an “electromagnetic receiver, an alphabet of dots and dashes, and a complete faith in practical possibilities of the whole” to create a long-range telegraph.[7]   

            Morse’s efforts point to several distinctive elements of the American mindset: unwavering work ethic, resolute determination, and the ability to think entrepreneurially.  Scientific advancement was not pursued purely for science but for its practical application.  With “scanty funds, limited time…and rising skepticism,” Morse was faced with substantial challenges at the outset of his work.[8]  Petitioning Congress for support and financial backing, Morse received rounds of criticism as politicians repeatedly deemed his invention a “toy” and severely “impractical.”[9]  After months of lobbying, members of the Commerce Committee finally agreed to back his project.  Pending patents from Europe and uninterested investors also interrupted his desired completion date, causing additional frustration from both foreign competitors and domestic foes.[10]  In a display of selflessness and genuine determination, Morse charted out the exact expenses and privately funded a majority of his work…even to the point of personal bankruptcy.[11]  Writing a letter to one of his art pupils in France with the hopes of receiving outstanding tuition, Morse expressed his destitution: “Even ten dollars would save my life… I will be dead next week by starvation…with but thirty seven cents left in the world.”[12]  In an instant, Morse’s last glimmer of hope turned to a bright, promising light.  With the passage of a $30,000 appropriations bill, the Senate enabled Morse and his team to complete the telegraph and install the final miles of needed wiring.[13]  On May 24, 1844, Morse’s dream became a reality as he tapped out a secret phrase from the Supreme Court Chamber within the Capitol over 40 miles of telegraph wire to the railroad station in Baltimore.  When, moments later, that same message was tapped back and received in the Capitol, Morse and his years of sacrifice were vindicated.  A revolution in communication had begun.  

           “Time and space were now annihilated.”[14] The results and implications of that simple decoded phrase were unprecedented and far reaching. Since the beginning of time, mankind had been consumed with how to move messages more swiftly; Morse was the modern American “Hermes,” the answer to that ancient need! No longer were riders, carriages, or postal workers the most efficient method for transmitting messages quickly. In an instant, information could be relayed and replied to, revolutionizing how elections, legislative decisions, wartime news, business transactions, and national events were delivered to, and perceived by, Americans. Henry Adams, grandson of John Quincy, prophetically stated that “the old universe would be thrown into the ash-heap and a new one created.”[15]

            For some it was surprising that from such a new nation came a discovery that would revolutionize global communication, but Morse served as a perfect representation of the “American way” in scientific invention. His work was not simply for the sake of science, but so that something useful would be born from his practical application of reason and discovery. Morse’s telegraph played a significant role in the “geographic expansion of the American empire and its economic development” and was, to his contemporaries, a pivotal advance that reshaped their ever-progressing country.[16] It is interesting to note that Morse’s Puritan work ethic and underlying confidence in God’s blessing on America are reflected in the historic first telegraph message that rang through the halls of the Capitol: “What Hath God Wrought?”

                                    

---

[1] Walter K. Towers, Masters of Space (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1917), 56.

[2] Ibid., 57.

[3] Ibid., 63.

[4] Samuel F.B. Morse, “Notes Regarding Telegraph and Patent Controversy,” The Samuel F.B. Morse Papers at The Library of Congress, 1837. http://www.loc.gov/resource/mmorse.071006/#seq-1 (accessed on November 2, 2013).

[5] Towers, Masters of Space, 63.

[6] Ibid., 65.

[7] Ibid., 66.

[8] Ibid., 75.

[9] Ibid., 76.

[10] Ibid., 78.

[11] Samuel F.B. Morse, “Estimates,” The Samuel F.B. Morse Papers at The Library of Congress, 1843, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mmorse&fileName=016/016001/016001page.db&recNum=303 (accessed on November 18, 2013).

[12] Towers, Masters of Space, 81 and 85.

[13] Ibid., 87.

[14] Ibid., 77.

[15] Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (Boston: Project Gutenburg, 1918), 5.

[16] Howe, What Hath God Wrought?, 854.