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How the Telegraph Changed the World PDF

221 Pages·2014·5.909 MB·English
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How the Telegraph Changed the World ALSOBYWILLIAMJ. PHALEN ANDFROMMCFARLAND The Consequences of Cotton in Antebellum America(2014) American Evangelical Protestantism and European Immigrants, 1800–1924(2011) How the Telegraph Changed the World William J. Phalen McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA Phalen, William J., 1942– How the telegraph changed the world / William J. Phalen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7864-9445-3 (softcover : acid free paper) ♾ ISBN 978-1-4766-1867-8 (ebook) 1. Telegraph—Social aspects—History—19th century. 2. Telegraph—Economic aspects—History—19th century. 3. Telegraph—United States—History—19th century. I. Title. HE7631.P46 2015 384.109'034—dc23 2014043014 BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE © 2015 William J. Phalen. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. On the cover: worker repairing telegraph line, ca.1862. Photograph by Andrew J. Russell (Library of Congress) Printed in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com For Maureen This page intentionally left blank Table of Contents Preface 1 Introduction 5 1. Samuel Morse’s Invention Through the Eyes of the Newspapers 13 2. Diplomacy 29 3. The Telegraph and the American Civil War 50 4. The Telegraph and Abraham Lincoln 74 5. The Atlantic Cable 89 6. The Telegraph and the Railroads 110 7. The Telegraph and Business 120 8. The Telegraph and the Press 128 9. Western Union 149 10. The Telegraph Workers and Unionism 171 Conclusion 185 Chapter Notes 189 Bibliography 203 Index 211 vii This page intentionally left blank Preface The earliest system of telegraphy for signaling over long distances is said to have originated in Africa. The means used were telephonic, and the signals were read by sound, and not by the eye, as is the case of the semaphore or other early signaling devices. The “Elliembic,” as the instrument was called, produced a sound when it was struck that could be varied to produce a language. Up until the nineteenth century, mankind communicated basically on a face to face basis. The attempts to send messages over long distances were usually limited by the elements (rain and wind would put out signal fires), by lack of daylight (semaphore messages could not be seen at night), and by line of sight problems (the illumination from a lighthouse is stopped by the curvature of the earth). Attempts to increase the ability to communicate over distance were limited by inventions and knowledge that had to be established first, in this case to understand electricity and how it could be used. Most of the experiments using electricity were done in Europe, until the advent of Benjamin Franklin. His kite experiment which estab- lished his well- known name led to more experiments both in America and Europe using electricity. One was made by Franklin himself when he transmitted an electric spark across the Schuylkill River near Philadel- phia. In 1827, an American, Harrison Gray, erected a line two miles long around a racetrack, and almost succeed in establishing a true telegraph. What was missing was a battery; with that he could have anticipated Samuel Morse. Another American, Joseph Henry, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, almost succeed in establishing a telegraph in 1828. He had devised and used a battery, but it was not strong enough to make his apparatus function. 1

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.