Humans have always craved to be connected to more people; we want to share ideas, thoughts, and technology more efficiently and effectively. In 1844, Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph from Baltimore, Maryland, bearing the flag of a new era of communication where messages could be received in a matter of hours rather than a matter of days or weeks. The first telegraph cable to be laid across the Atlantic in 1866 connected the United States and Europe for the first time through something other than ships.
The telegraph would eventually give a major tactical advantage to the Union army during the Civil War, allowing Union troops to be more coordinated than the Confederates. The invention of the telegraph also marked the birth of the tele-commuication industry, which has evolved into phones, televisions, and computers and have all further connected us as individuals to the world. "Tomorrow the hearts of the civilized world will beat in a single pulse, and from that time forth forevermore the continental divisions of the earth will, in a measure, lose those conditions of time and distance which now mark their relations."-Writer for the Times of London in reaction to the first telegraphs exchanged between President Buchanan and Queen Victoria |
![]() "The Laying of the Cable," printed by Baker & Goodwin in 1858, depicts the closer connection the United States now had with England. The American people became more globally aware and involved after they were able to get information from other parts of the world more efficiently.
"The Laying of the Cable." Baker & Goodwin. Library of Congress,
www.loc.gov/ item/2004665357/. Accessed 12 Jan. 2017. Cartoon.
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