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In 1831 an American, Joseph Henry, demonstrated that an electric current could be transmitted to activate an electromagnet, causing it to strike a bell. This demonstration spurred Samuel Morse to invent the telegraph and the code for using it in 1835. In his system, known as Morse Code, each letter of the alphabet is represented by its own mix of short signals (dots) and long signals (dashes). Morses invention transmitted a signal that stimulated an electromagnet to
move a marker to produce codes of dots and dashes on a piece of paper. In 1843 Morse and his invention received funding from Congress to build a 40-mile long telegraph line from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland. The line was officially opened on May 24, 1844 when Morse sent a message from the Old Supreme Court in the U.S. Capitol building to his business partner, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore. The message read, What hath God wrought. The pair later received private funding to extend their line into Pennsylvania and New York. Soon, other private telegraph companies began to set up corporations in other parts of the country. In 1851 Western Union began construction on its first transcontinental line. The telegraph soon became part of American life. Thousands of miles of wires were strung across the nation. Factories in the East could communicate with their markets in the west in a matter of hours rather than weeks. The telegraph was a success!
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