7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7increase U.S. respect for painters, and was its first president
from 1826 to 1845.
In 1832, while returning by ship from studying art in
Europe, Morse conceived the idea of an electric telegraph
as the result of hearing a conversation about the newly
discovered electromagnet. Although the idea of an elec-
tric telegraph had been put forward before 1800, Morse
believed that his was the first proposal. He probably made
his first working model by 1835. Meanwhile, he was still
devoting most of his time to painting, teaching art at the
University of the City of New York (later New York
University), and to politics. But, by 1837, he turned his
full attention to the new invention. A colleague at the
university showed him a detailed description of an alter-
native model proposed in 1831, and a friend offered to
provide materials and labour to build models in his family’s
ironworks. These two became partners in Morse’s tele-
graph rights. By 1838 he had developed the system of dots
and dashes that became known throughout the world as
the Morse code. In 1838, while unsuccessfully attempting
to interest Congress in building a telegraph line, he
acquired a congressman as an additional partner. After
failing to organize the construction of a Morse line in
Europe, Morse was finally able to obtain, without his
partners’ cooperation, financial support from Congress
for the first telegraph line in the United States, from
Baltimore to Washington. In 1844 the line was completed,
and he sent the first message, “What hath God wrought!”
Morse was immediately involved in legal claims by his
partners and by rival inventors. He fought vigorously in
this dispute, and a series of legal battles culminating in a
U.S. Supreme Court decision established his patent rights
in 1854. As telegraph lines lengthened on both sides of the
Atlantic, his wealth and fame increased. By 1847 Morse
had bought Locust Grove, an estate overlooking the