Similar to a college student with an undecided major, Morse's captivation by electicity was coupled with a passion for painting. After marked success in the artistic field he seemed to revisit the scientific field that sparked his interest. One chance encounter on a voyage from Europe to the United States gave him his initial inspiration for his concept of the electric telegraph. He first pursued study of telegraphy in 1832 and over the next five years Morse developed functional models of his telegraph. His version was more efficient and practical than any previously in existence. By 1842 the old devil had finagled Congress out of a $30,000 grant to effectively connect the United States by wire.
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/morse.html
The telegraph became a machine capable of sending messages over large distances by disrupting an electromagnetic current. Good old Sam Morse comes in again and develops a system designating each letter of the alphabet a combo of dots and dashes. You hit a button, which halts the current, which moves a marker, to make a written code on the other end - genius! This allowed the users of the machine to communicate with ease. http://www.history.com/topics/telegraph
**SIDE NOTE: I thought it was interesting that the word telegraph is both a noun and a verb. It's completely out of our vernacular now but one might have said "I have to go telegraph this man it's hilarious" instead of "text" or "tweet."
The telegraph was growing obsolete even by the end of the 19th century as newer technologies left the poor thing behind. But the technology did end up laying the groundwork and inspiring further inventions and innovations like the telephone, fax machine, and the Internet. The telegraph was responsible for changing the nation as well as global transfer of information by creating a more instantaneous relay. Anyway, Mr. Morse was worth investigating even in his younger days without such a substantial beard. http://www.history.com/topics/telegraph
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