Samuel F B Morse

Samuel F. B. Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the first child of the pastor Jedidiah Morse (1761–1826), who was also a geographer, and his wife Elizabeth Ann Finley Breese (1766–1828). His father was a great preacher of the Calvinist faith and supporter of the American Federalist party. He thought it helped preserve Puritan traditions (strict observance of Sabbath, among other things), and believed in the Federalist support of an alliance with Britain and a strong central government. 

Morse strongly believed in education within a Federalist framework, alongside the instillation of Calvinist virtues, morals, and prayers for his first son. After attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Samuel Morse went on to Yale College to receive instruction in the subjects of religious philosophy, mathematics, and science of horses. He supported himself by painting. In 1810, he graduated from Yale with Phi Beta Kappa honors. 

The decade 1815–1825 marked significant growth in Morse's work, as he sought to capture the essence of America's culture and life. He painted the Federalist former President John Adams (1816). The Federalists and Anti-Federalists clashed over Dartmouth College. Morse painted portraits of Francis Brown—the college's president—and Judge Woodward (1817), who was involved in bringing the Dartmouth case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Morse also sought commissions among the elite of Charleston, South Carolina. Morse's 1818 painting of Mrs. Emma Quash symbolized the opulence of Charleston. The young artist was doing well for himself.

Morse was commissioned to paint President James Monroe in 1820. He embodied Jeffersonian democracy by favoring the common man over the aristocrat.

Morse had moved to New Haven. His commissions for The House of Representatives (1821) and a portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette (1825) engaged his sense of democratic nationalism.

The Telegraph

In 1825 New York City had commissioned Morse to paint a portrait of Lafayette in Washington, DC. While Morse was painting, a horse messenger delivered a letter from his father that read, "Your dear wife is convalescent". The next day he received a letter from his father detailing his wife's sudden death. Morse immediately left Washington for his home at New Haven, leaving the portrait of Lafayette unfinished. By the time he arrived, his wife had already been buried.

Heartbroken that for days he was unaware of his wife's failing health and her death, he decided to explore a means of rapid long distance communication.

While returning by ship from Europe in 1832, Morse encountered Charles Thomas Jackson of Boston, a man who was well schooled in electromagnetism. Witnessing various experiments with Jackson's electromagnet, Morse developed the concept of a single-wire telegraph.

In time the Morse code, which he developed, would become the primary language of telegraphy in the world. It is still the standard for rhythmic transmission of data.

1830-1866: Development and Consolidation of the Electric Telegraph Industry

In 1832, Samuel Morse returned to the United States from his artistic studies in Europe. While discussing electricity with fellow passengers, Morse conceived of the idea of a single-wire electric telegraph. No one until this time had Morse’s zeal for the applicability of electromagnetism to telecommunications or his conviction of its eventual profitability. Morse obtained a patent in the United States in 1838 but split his patent right to gain the support of influential partners. He obtained a $30,000 grant from Congress in 1843 to build an experimental line between Baltimore and Washington. The first public message over Morse’s line (“What hath God wrought?”) echoed the first message over Chappe’s system (“If you succeed, you will bask in glory”). Both indicated the inventors’ convictions about the importance of their systems.

Morse and His Partners

Morse realized early on that he was incapable of handling the business end of the telegraph and hired Amos Kendall, a former Postmaster General and a member of Andrew Jackson’s “Kitchen Cabinet,” to manage his business affairs. By 1848 Morse had consolidated the partnership to four members. Kendall managed the three-quarters of the patent belonging to Morse, Leonard Gale, and Alfred Vail. Gale and Vail had helped Morse develop the telegraph’s technology. F.O.J. Smith, a former Maine Representative whose help was instrumental in obtaining the government grant, decided to retain direct control of his portion of the patent right. The partnership agreement was vague and led to discord between Kendall and Smith. Eventually the partners split the patent right geographically. Smith controlled New England, New York, and the upper-Midwest, and Morse controlled the rest of the country.

The availability of financing influenced the early industrial organization of the telegraph. Initially, Morse tried to sell his patent to the government, Kendall, Smith, and several groups of businessmen, but all attempts were unsuccessful. Kendall then attempted to generate interest in building a unified system across the country. This too failed, leaving Kendall to sell the patent right piecemeal to regional interests. These lines covered the most potentially profitable routes, emanating from New York and reaching Washington, Buffalo, Boston and New Orleans. Morse also licensed feeder lines to supply main lines with business.