delanceyplace.com 9/9/11 - the first telegraph and the first american railroad

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In today's excerpt - on May 24, 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse sent the first telegraph message between Washington and Baltimore. The message was "What hath God wrought." It so happened that the Democratic Convention to nominate its presidential and vice presidential candidates was being held in Baltimore at almost that same time. In those times, presidential candidates often did not attend these conventions lest they seem too ambitious—some not even coming to the convention city—and so the telegraph came into immediate use:

"That the two major political parties should both hold their 1844 nominating conventions in Baltimore was not the coincidence that it might seem. Party nominating conventions were still relatively new creations. The congressional caucus system had been abandoned after 1824, and the nominating convention as a media event had been only recently introduced by the hype and hoopla of the Whigs' 1840 log cabin campaign [Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!]. With geographic location and favorite-son considerations not yet as important as they would become to future conventions, why not meet in the same city?

"Baltimore had numerous advantages. A southern city by demeanor, it was nonetheless centrally located to most of the country and an easy day's travel from Washington. With a population just over one hundred thousand, Baltimore was the queen of the Chesapeake and the second-largest city in the United States, after New York and Just before Philadelphia. Commercial competition among these three was fierce, particularly after the opening of the Erie Canal boosted New York's fortunes.

"In 1828, after promoters of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal announced a route along the Potomac River that bypassed Baltimore, city fathers began construction on what was to become America's first railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio. The railroad company built west from Baltimore toward the Ohio River but also began a branch line south toward Washington. Andrew Jackson was the first president to ride the rails, and on August 25, 1835, regular rail service was inaugurated between Baltimore and the nation's capital.

"In 1843, Samuel F B. Morse, a painter by trade, obtained permission from the Baltimore & Ohio to construct an experimental telegraph line along the railroad's right of way between Baltimore and Washington. The first few miles of wire were initially buried alongside the tracks in a lead pipe, but a combination of rocky ground and inadequate insulation quickly led workers to string wire aboveground between wooden poles. By the spring of 1844, Morse had installed one telegraph instrument in the Pratt Street station of the Baltimore & Ohio in Baltimore and another in the Supreme Court chamber in the Capitol in Washington and was about ready to conduct a test. ...

"[In a contentious and chaotic convention, James Polk was nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate.] Only five days earlier, on May 24, Anne Ellsworth, the daughter of the commissioner of patents, had chosen the phrase 'What hath God wrought' for Samuel Morse to use as a test message for his telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore. The test had been a success, and now news of Polk's nomination flashed in an instant across the distance of forty miles to Washington. Many of the Democrats on Capitol Hill knew Polk personally from his service there, and Polk's nomination met with as great a cheer as had filled the hall at Baltimore." ...

"The excited delegates reassembled after lunch ... to take up the vice presidential nomination. Benjamin Butler suggested that in the interest of harmony—as well as a strong Democratic turnout in New York state—the nomination should be offered to Silas Wright. With only eight Georgians voting against it, Wright's nomination was promptly made, and word of it flashed to Wright in Washington by telegraph. But Wright was still miffed by the convention's rejection of [his ally] Martin Van Buren. ... Back came Wright's answer by telegraph from Washington that he declined the nomination. Butler was certain that Wright could be convinced otherwise, and a telegraphic exchange ensued. Having said no four times by telegraph, Wright finally dispatched two congressmen in a wagon to drive to Baltimore—the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad did not yet operate at night—and convey his answer in no uncertain terms."