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Samuel F. B. Morse

, Artist/Inventor

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Born: 27 April 1791
Birthplace: Charlestown, Massachusetts
Died: 2 April 1872
Best Known As: The telegraphic pioneer who invented Morse Code

Name at birth: Samuel Finley Breese Morse

Samuel Morse's first career was as an artist, painting portraits in Boston and New York. In 1832 he became one of several people interested in finding ways of communicating by sending electrical impulses across a wire -- a concept which became known as the telegraph. Morse developed a dot-and-dash alphabet and devised a practical plan for using telegraphy to communicated across great distances. Morse demonstrated a working model in 1837, and by 1843 had secured government funding to run a line from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C. On May 24, 1844 he transmitted the first telegraph message: "What hath God wrought!" Although he spent years in litigation over telegraph patents, he was eventually rewarded for his efforts and was a wealthy man in his later years.

Morse was also an early photographer and created some of America's first daguerreotypes... The emergency call SOS -- dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot -- is a famous Morse code combination.

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Art Encyclopedia: Samuel Finley Breese Morse

(b Charlestown, MA, 27 April 1791; d New York, 2 April 1872). American painter and inventor. The son of a Calvinist minister, he began amateur sketching while a student at Yale College, New Haven, CT. After graduating in 1810, he returned to Charlestown, MA, to paint family portraits. In Boston in the same year he met Washington Allston, recently returned from Italy, under whose tutelage he executed his first history painting, the Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth (c. 1810-11; Boston, MA, Pub. Lib.). He joined Allston on his trip to London in 1811, enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools and also studied privately with Allston and Benjamin West. Morse's Dying Hercules (1812-13; New Haven, CT, Yale U. A.G.), based on the pose and musculature of the Laokoon (Rome, Vatican, Mus. Pio-Clementino) and the theory evident in Allston's Dead Man Restored to Life by Touching the Bones of the Prophet Elisha (1811-14; Philadelphia, PA Acad. F.A.), was critically acclaimed when exhibited at the Royal Academy and is indicative of Morse's academic interests. After two trips in 1813 and 1814 to Bristol, where he painted a number of portraits and small subject pieces, Morse ended his period in England with another mythological history painting, the Judgement of Jupiter (1814-15; New Haven, CT, Yale U. A.G.).

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Biography: Samuel Finley Breese Morse

Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), American artist and inventor, designed and developed the first successful electromagnetic telegraph system.

Samuel F. B. Morse was born in Charlestown, Mass., on April 27, 1791; he was the son of Jedidiah Morse, a clergyman. Samuel graduated from Yale College in 1810. At college he had painted miniatures on ivory and wished to pursue a career in art, but his father was opposed to this. Samuel took a job as a clerk in a Charlestown bookstore. During this time he continued to paint, and his work soon came to the attention of two of America's most respected artists, Gilbert Stuart and Washington Allston, both of whom spoke highly of his abilities. His father reversed his decision and in 1811 allowed Morse to travel to England with Allston. He studied with Allston for 4 years in London. During this time Morse also worked at the Royal Academy with the venerable American artist Benjamin West.

In 1815 Morse returned to America and set up a studio in Boston. He soon discovered that his large canvases attracted favorable comment but few customers. In those days Americans looked to painters primarily for portraits, and Morse found that even these commissions were difficult to secure. He traveled extensively in search of work, finally settling in New York City in 1823. Perhaps his two best-known canvases are his portraits of the Marquis de Lafayette, which he painted in Washington, D.C., in 1825.

In 1826 Morse helped found, and became the first president of, the National Academy of Design, an organization which was intended to help secure commissions for artists and to raise the taste of the public. The previous year Morse's wife had died; in 1826 his father died. The death of his mother in 1828 dealt another severe blow, and the following year Morse left for Europe to recover.

In October 1832 Morse returned to the United States aboard the packet Sully. On the voyage he met Charles Thomas Jackson, an eccentric doctor and inventor, with whom he discussed electromagnetism. Jackson assured Morse that an electric inpulse could be carried along even a very long wire. Morse later recalled that he reacted to this news with the thought that "if this be so, and the presence of electricity can be made visible in any desired part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence might not be instantaneously transmitted by electricity to any distance." He immediately made some sketches of a device to accomplish this purpose.

Morse again returned to his artistic career, becoming a professor of painting and sculpture at the University of the City of New York. At the same time he entered politics. Like many Americans, he was intolerant of both immigrants and Catholics, and he became a candidate for mayor of New York on a "nativist" platform. In later life his prejudices softened, and he was better able to tolerate the ethnic diversity of the growing country.

The telegraph was never far from Morse's mind during these years. He had long been interested in gadgetry and had even taken out a patent. He had also attended public lectures on electricity. His knowledge of the subject was rudimentary, however, and outdated by the rapid developments in the field during this period. His shipboard sketches of 1832 had clearly laid out the three major parts of the telegraph: a sender which opened and closed an electric circuit, a receiver which used an electromagnet to record the signal, and a code which translated the signal into letters and numbers. By January 1836 he had a working model of the device which he showed to Leonard Gale, a colleague at the university. Gale advised him of recent developments in the field of electromagnetism and especially of the work of the American physicist Joseph Henry. As a result, Morse was able to greatly improve the efficiency of his device.

In September 1837 Morse formed a partnership with Alfred Vail, who contributed both money and mechanical skill. They applied for a patent, and Morse went to Europe seeking patents there as well. He was rejected in England, where a similar device had already been developed. The American patent remained in doubt until 1843, when Congress voted $30,000 to finance the building of an experimental telegraph line between the national capital and Baltimore, Md. It was over this line, on May 24, 1844, that Morse tapped out his famous message, "What hath God wrought!"

Morse was willing to sell all his rights to the invention to the Federal government for $100,000, but a combination of congressional indifference and private greed frustrated the plan. Instead he turned his business affairs over to Amos Kendall. Morse then settled down to a life of acclaim and wealth. He was generous in his philanthropies and was one of the founders of Vassar College in 1861. His last years were marred, however, by controversies over the priority of his invention and questions as to how much he had been helped by others, especially Joseph Henry. Morse died in New York City on April 2, 1872.

Further Reading

The standard biography of Morse is Carleton Mabee, The American Leonardo: A Life of Samuel F. B. Morse (1943). A shorter study is Oliver W. Larkin, Samuel F. B. Morse and American Democratic Art (1954). The development of the telegraph network is described in Robert L. Thompson, Wiring a Continent (1947).

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Samuel Finley Breese Morse

(born April 27, 1791, Charlestown, Mass., U.S. — died April 2, 1872, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter and inventor. The son of a distinguished geographer, he attended Yale University and studied painting in England (1811 – 15). He returned home to work as an itinerant painter; his portraits still rank among the finest produced in the U.S. He cofounded the National Academy of Design and served as its first president (1826 – 45). Independent of similar efforts in Europe, he developed an electric telegraph (1832 – 35), believing his to be the first. He developed the system of dots and dashes that became known internationally as Morse code (1838). Though denied support from Congress for a transatlantic telegraph line, he received congressional support for the first U.S. telegraph line, from Baltimore to Washington; on its completion in 1844 he sent the message "What hath God wrought!" His patents brought him fame and wealth.

For more information on Samuel Finley Breese Morse, visit Britannica.com.

Photography Encyclopedia: Samuel F. B. Morse

Morse, Samuel F. B.. (1791-1872), American artist and inventor who provided the first American eyewitness account of Daguerre's new photographic technology. In Paris to promote his telegraph, Morse met Daguerre on 7 March 1839, and two days later wrote to his brothers, editors of the New York Observer, that the daguerreotype ‘is one of the most beautiful discoveries of the age … the exquisite minuteness of the delineation cannot be conceived’. After returning to New York, Morse, the president of the National Academy of Design, began his own experiments and gave a keynote address on daguerreotypes at the 1840 Academy annual dinner. Assuaging the fears of artists, he predicted a ‘great revolution’ that would be ‘in the highest degree favourable to the character of Art’, aiding perspective and shading and increasing appreciation for those artists whose work was true to nature. Morse was particularly interested in the technology because, c. 1821-3, he had attempted similar experiments ‘to fix the image of the Camera Obscura’, but produced only negative images that he was unable to make permanent. Few of his early daguerreotype experiments are extant, and his significance remains primarily that of a cultural transmitter and interpreter of the technology.

— Patricia Johnston

Bibliography

New York Commercial Advertiser (22 Apr. 1839).
Evening Post (New York) (27 Apr. 1840).
Batchen, G., ‘ “Some Experiments of Mine”: The Early Photographic Experiments of Samuel Morse’, History of Photography, 15 (1991)

US History Companion: Morse, Samuel F. B.

(1791-1872), artist and inventor of the telegraph. Morse, one of the most versatile Americans of the nineteenth century, influenced American art, politics, and science. He grew up in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the son of a prominent minister. After graduating from Yale, Morse studied painting in England. He returned in 1815 to pursue the grand history painting much admired in Europe. Morse executed a monumental depiction of The Old House of Representatives, expecting that this would make his reputation. But there was little demand in America for history painting, and he reluctantly sought portrait commissions to support himself. Although Morse's works are now recognized as some of the most accomplished of the nineteenth century, he was often close to poverty during his career as an artist.

Morse returned to Europe in 1829, hoping that success on the Continent might boost his flagging career; instead, the trip led Morse to other undertakings. During a visit to Rome, a soldier knocked him down when he failed to kneel before a Catholic procession. Most Americans of the day harbored anti-Catholic sentiments, and Morse had often heard his father denounce "popery" in his sermons. So when Morse returned to the United States, he vented his newly intensified anti-Catholicism in a series of newspaper articles. Under the pen name "Brutus," Morse charged that the monarchies of Europe had enlisted the aid of the Catholic church to subvert American democracy by sending Catholic immigrants to take control of the underpopulated American West. According to Morse, a power base in the West combined with continuing Catholic immigration to the eastern United States would soon put America under the sway of Catholic despotism. Before Morse's articles appeared, Americans had considered immigration beneficial because it would help populate the nation's vast territories. But by linking immigration to Catholicism, Morse's articles (which went through many printings when republished as a book in 1835) helped spawn an anti-immigration movement that would persist for generations. Morse thus was recognized by contemporaries as a founding father of American nativism.

Morse's second voyage to Europe not only intensified his anti-Catholicism but also led to his invention of the electric telegraph. During his transatlantic voyage home, Morse became acquainted with Thomas Jackson, a scientist who had recently attended lectures on electricity in Paris. In the course of conversations with Jackson, the artist became convinced that an electrical current could be used for communication, and after his arrival home, he abandoned his artistic career to devote his full attention to the project. Morse convinced Congress to finance construction of his first telegraph line (from Washington to Baltimore), and on May 24, 1844, he inaugurated it with the message "What hath God wrought!" The telegraph revolutionized American life. Just ten years after the first line opened, twenty-three thousand miles of telegraph cable crisscrossed the country. Speedy communications made railroad travel safer, and businessmen could conduct their operations more efficiently and profitably. Not many inventions changed life as quickly as the telegraph did.

At his death, few remembered Morse for anything else. But his contributions to American art, politics, and science qualify him as one of the country's few "Renaissance men."

Bibliography:

William Kloss, Samuel F. B. Morse (1988); Carleton Mabee, American Leonardo: A Life of Samuel F. B. Morse (1943).

Author:

Tyler Anbinder

Columbia Encyclopedia: Morse, Samuel Finley Breese,

1791–1872, American inventor and artist, b. Charlestown, Mass., grad. Yale, 1810. He studied painting in England under Washington Allston and achieved some success. He returned to the United States in 1815, took up portrait painting, and gained a considerable reputation in this field. Associated with the Hudson River school, he also executed a number of landscapes and, less successfully, various historical works. A founder (1825) of the National Academy of Design, he spent the years from 1829 to 1832 in further European study and upon his return became a professor of fine arts at New York Univ.

Morse's interest in electricity, aroused in his college days, was further stimulated by the lectures of James F. Dana in 1827 and later by contacts with university faculty. Learning in 1832 of Ampère's idea for the electric telegraph, Morse worked for the next 12 years, with the aid of the chemist Leonard Gale, physicist Joseph Henry, and machinist Alfred Vail to perfect his own version of the instrument. So many phases of the telegraph, however, had already been anticipated by other inventors, especially in Great Britain, Germany, and France, that Morse's originality as the inventor of telegraphy has been questioned; even the Morse code did not differ greatly from earlier codes, including the semaphore. In any case, in 1844 Morse demonstrated to Congress the practicability of his instrument by transmitting the famous message “What hath God wrought” over a wire from Washington to Baltimore. Morse subsequently was compelled to defend his invention in court, although by then he commanded the acclaim of the world. He later experimented with submarine cable telegraphy. Both Morse and John Draper were instrumental in introducing the daguerreotype in the United States.

Bibliography

See his letters and journals, ed. by E. L. Morse (1914, repr. 1973); biographies by C. Mabee (1943, repr. 1969), P. Staiti (1989), and K. Silverman (2003).

History Dictionary: Morse, Samuel F. B.

Nineteenth-century inventor of the telegraph and of Morse code. In 1844 he transmitted the first telegraphic message: “What hath God wrought!”

Wikipedia: Samuel F. B. Morse

Samuel F. B. Morse
Samuel Morse
Born	April 27 1791(1791--) Charlestown, Massachusetts
Died	April 2 1872 (aged 80) 5 West 22nd Street, New York City, New York
Occupation	Writer, Painter, and Inventor

Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American painter of portraits and historic scenes, the creator of a single wire telegraph system, and co-inventor, with Alfred Vail, of the Morse Code. ^[1]

Birth and education

Samuel F.B Morse was born on April 27, 1791 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the first child of geographer and pastor Jedidiah Morse and Elizabeth Ann Breese Morse. ^[2] Jedidiah was a great preacher of the Calvinist faith and supporter of the American Federalist party. He not only saw them as great preservers of Puritan traditions (strict observance of the Sabbath), but believed in their idea of an alliance with English in regards to a strong central government. Jedidiah strongly believed in education within a Federalist framework alongside the instillation of Calvinist virtues, morals and prayers for his son. After attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Samuel went on to Yale College to receive instruction in the subjects of religious philosophy, mathematics and science of horses. While at Yale, he attended lectures on electricity from Benjamin Silliman and Jeremiah Day. He earned money by painting portraits. In 1810, he graduated from Yale. ^[3]

Painting

Morse's Calvinist beliefs are evident in his painting the Landing of the Pilgrims, through the depiction of simplistic clothing as well as the austere facial features. This image captured the psychology of the Federalists; Calvinists from England brought to the United States ideas of religion and government thus forever linking the two countries. More importantly, this particular work attracted the attention of the famous artist, Washington Allston. Allston wanted Morse to come with him to England to meet the famous British artist Benjamin West. An agreement for three year stay was made with Jedidah and young Morse set sail with Allston aboard the Lydia on July 15, 1811 (1).

Upon his arrival in England, Morse diligently worked on perfecting painting techniques under the careful eye of Allston and by the end of 1811; he gained admittance to the Royal Academy. At the Academy, he fell in love with the Neo-classical art work of the Renaissance paying close attention to Michelangelo and Raphael. After observing and practicing sketches of curvatures and muscle formations, the young artist successfully created his own masterpiece, Dying Hercules. Immediately, Benjamin West secured Morse’s position at the Academy and received a gold medal from the Adelphi Society(2).

There definitely was a political statement against the British but also American Federalists with Dying Hercules. The muscles represented the strength of the young and vibrant United States that was undermined by the dubious the British and their American supporters. During Morse’s time in Britain the Americans and English were engaged in the War of 1812 and division existed within United States society over loyalties. Anti-Federalists Americans aligned themselves with the French, abhorred the British, and believed a strong central government to be inherently dangerous to democracy.(3) As the war raged on his letters to his parents became more anti-Federalist in their tones. In one such letter Morse said, "I assert that the Federalists in the Northern States have done more injury to their country by their violent opposition measures than a French alliance could. There proceedings are copied into the English papers, read before Parliament, and circulated through their country, and what do they say of them… they call them (Federalists) cowards, a base set, say they are traitors to their country and ought to be hanged like traitors, and he's gay”(4).

Although Jedidah did not change his political views, he did influence Morse’s in another way. It unmistakably clear that Jedidah’s Calvinist ideas were and integral part of Morse’s other significant English piece Judgment of Jupiter. Jupiter in the cloud, accompanied by his eagle, with his hand over the parties, is pronouncing judgment. Marpessa with an expression of compunction and shame, imploring forgiveness, is throwing herself into the arms of her husband. Idas, who tenderly loved Marpessa, is eagerly rushing forward to receive her, while Apollo stares with surprise… at the unexpectedness of her decision (5). A case can be made that Jupiter is representative of God’s omnipotence watching every move that is made. One might deem the portrait as a moral teaching by Morse on infidelity. Although Marpessa fell victim she realized that her eternal salvation was important and desisted from her wicked ways. Apollo shows no remorse for what he did, but just stands there with puzzled looked. A lot of the American paintings throughout the early nineteenth century had religious themes and tones and it was Morse who was the forerunner. Judgment of Jupiter allowed Morse to express his support of Anti Federalism while maintaining his strong spiritual convictions. This work represented American nationalism through Calvinism because these individuals expelled from England, contributed to the expulsion of the English (1776 and now in 1812) and established a free democratic society. West sought to present this image at another Royal Academy exhibition; unfortunately his time had run out. He left the United States on August 21, 1815 and began his full time career as an American painter (6).

The years, 1815-1825, mark significant growth in Morse’s paintings as he sought to capture the true essence of America’s culture and life. He had the honor of painting former Federalist President John Adams (1816). He hoped to become part of grander projects and saw his opportunity with the clash between Federalist and Anti-Federalists over Dartmouth College. Morse was able to paint Judge Woodward (1817) who was involved in bringing the Dartmouth case before the Supreme Court and the college’s president, Francis Brown. He sought commissions in Charleston, South Carolina (1818). Morse’s painting of Mrs. Emma Quash symbolized the opulence of Charleston. It seemed for the time being, the young artist was doing well for himself (7).

Between 1819 and 1821, Morse experienced a great change in his life. Commissions ceased in Charleston when the city was hit with an economic recession. Jedidah was forced to resign from his ministerial position as he was unsuccessful in stopping the rift within Calvinism. The new branch that formed was the Congregational Unitarians which he deemed as detestable anti-Federalists because these persons took a different approach over salvation. Although he respected his father’s religious opinions, he sympathized with the Unitarians. A prominent family that converted to the new Calvinist faith was the Pickerings of Portsmouth of whom Morse painted. This portrait can then be viewed as a further shift towards anti-Federalism. A person could argue that he made his full transition to anti- Federalism when he was commissioned to paint President James Monroe (1820). Monroe embodied Jeffersonian Democracy by favoring the common man over the aristocrat; later reemphasized upon the ascension of Andrew Jackson (8).

There were two defining commissions that shaped Morse’s art career from his return to New Haven until the establishment of the National Academy of Design. The Hall of Congress (1821) and the Marquis de Lafayette (1825) embroiled Morse’s sense of democratic nationalism. The artist chose to paint the House of Representatives, to show American democracy in action. He traveled to Washington D.C. to draw the architecture of the new halls, carefully placing eighty individuals within the painting and believed that a night scene was appropriate. He successfully balanced the architecture of the Rotunda with the figurines and the glow of the lamplight serving as the focal point of the work. Pairs of people, those who stood alone, individuals bent over their desks working were painted simply but had characterized faces. Morse chose nighttime to convey Congress’ dedication to the principles of democracy transcended day. The Hall of Congress however, failed to draw a crowd in New York City. One possible reason for the disappointment was the shadow of John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence that won popular acclaim in 1820. Perhaps some individuals did not appreciate the inner-workings of the American government (9).

Morse in his youth.

Morse felt a great degree of honor of painting the Marquis de Lafayette,leading supporter of the American Revolution.He felt compelled to paint a grandiose portrait of the man who helped to establish a free and independent America. In his image, he enshrouds Lafayette with a magnificent sunset as he stands to the right of three pedestals of which two are Benjamin Franklin and George Washington with the final reserved for him. A peaceful wooden landscape below him symbolized American tranquility and prosperity as it approach the age of fifty. The developing friendship between Morse and Lafayette and the discussion of the Revolutionary War, affected the artist upon returning to New York City (10).

Morse was in Europe for three years improving his painting skills, 1830-1832, travelling in Italy, Switzerland and France. The project he eventually selected was to paint miniature copies of some 38 of the Louvre's famous paintings on a single canvas (6 ft. x 9 ft) which he entitled "The Gallery of the Louvre". He planned to complete "The Gallery of the Louvre" when he returned home to Massachusetts and to earn an income by exhibiting his work and charging admission. This was typical of Morse who stumbled haphazardly from one money-making scheme to another in those days. ^{[citation needed]}

Telegraph

On the sea voyage home in 1832 Morse encountered Charles Thomas Jackson of Boston who was well schooled in electromagnetism. Witnessing various experiments with Jackson's electromagnet, Morse developed the concept of a single wire telegraph, and "The Gallery of the Louvre" was set aside. He was devising his^{[citation needed]} telegraph code even before the ship docked.¹ In time the Morse code would become the primary language of telegraphy in the world.

In 1836 Morse ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York under the Nativist banner. His anti-Catholic views, however, only garnered 1496 votes.

William Cooke and Professor Charles Wheatstone reached the stage of launching a commercial telegraph prior to Morse, despite starting later. In England Cooke became fascinated by electrical telegraph in 1836, four years after Morse, but with greater financial resources. Cooke abandoned his primary subject of anatomy and built a small electrical telegraph within three weeks. Wheatstone also was experimenting with telegraphy and (most importantly) understood that a single large battery would not carry a telegraphic signal over long distances, and that numerous small batteries were far more successful and efficient in this task (Wheatstone was building on the primary research of Joseph Henry, an American physicist). Cooke and Wheatstone formed a partnership and patented the electrical telegraph in May 1837, and within a short time had provided the Great Western Railway with a mile ( km) stretch of telegraph. However, Cooke and Wheatstone's multiple wire signaling method would be overtaken by Morse's superior code within a few years.

Morse encountered the problem of getting a telegraphic signal to carry over more than a few hundred yards of wire. His breakthrough came from the insights of Professor Leonard Gale, who taught chemistry at New York University (a personal friend of Joseph Henry). With Gale's help, Morse soon was able to send a message through ten miles (16 km) of wire. This was the great breakthrough Morse had been seeking.

Morse and Gale were soon joined by a young enthusiastic man, Alfred Vail, who had excellent skills, insights and money. Morse's telegraph now began to be developed very rapidly.

In 1838 a trip to Washington, D.C. failed to attract federal sponsorship for a telegraph line. Morse then traveled to Europe seeking both sponsorship and patents, but in London discovered ooke and Wheatstone had already established priority.

In 1839, from Paris, Morse published the first American description of daguerreotype photography by Louis Daguerre.

Morse made one last trip to Washington, D.C., in December 1842, stringing "wires between two committee rooms in the Capitol, and sent messages back and forth -- and, for some reason, this time some people believed him, and a bill was finally proposed allocating $30,000 towards building an experimental line".³

The general public was highly skeptical, and there were also a great many skeptics in Congress. A thirty eight-mile (61km) line was constructed between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. The most convincing demonstration was when the results of the Whig National Convention at Baltimore in the spring of 1844 reached Washington via telegraph prior to the arrival of the first train. On 24 May, 1844 the line (which ran along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between the Capitol and Baltimore) was officially opened as Morse sent his famous words "What hath God wrought" along the wire.

In May 1845 the Magnetic Telegraph Company was formed in order to radiate telegraph lines from New York City towards Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, New York and the Mississippi.⁴

Morse also at one time adopted Wheatstone and Carl August von Steinheil's idea of broadcasting an electrical telegraph signal through a body of water or down steel railroad tracks or anything conductive. He went to great lengths to win a lawsuit for the right to be called "inventor of the telegraph", and promoted himself as being an inventor, but Alfred played an important role in the invention of the Morse Code, which was based on earlier codes for the electromagnetic telegraph.

Samuel Morse received a patent for the telegraph in 1847, at the old Beylerbeyi Palace (the present Beylerbeyi Palace was built in 1861-1865 on the same location) in Istanbul, which was issued by Sultan Abdülmecid who personally tested the new invention^[4] ⁵

In the 1850s, Morse went to Copenhagen and visited the Thorvaldsens Museum[1], where the sculptor's grave is in the inner courtyard. He was received by King Frederick VII, who decorated him with the Order of the Dannebrog. Morse expressed his wish to donate his portrait from 1830 to the king. The Thorvaldsen portrait today belongs to Margaret II of Denmark.

The Morse telegraphic apparatus was officially adopted as the standard for European telegraphy in 1851. Britain (with its British Empire) remained the only notable part of the world where other forms of electrical telegraph were in widespread use (they continued to use the needle telegraph invention of Cooke and Wheatstone).^[5]

Later years

Portrait of Samuel F. B. Morse by Mathew Brady, between 1855 and 1865

In the United States, Morse had now had his patent for many years, but it was being both ignored and contested. In 1853 the case of the patent came before the Supreme Court where, after very lengthy investigation, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that Morse had been the first to combine the battery, electromagnetism, the electromagnet and the correct battery configuration into a workable practical telegraph.⁶ Nevertheless, in spite of this clear ruling, Morse still received no official recognition from the United States government. Assisted by the American Ambassador in Paris, the governments of Europe were approached regarding how they had long neglected Morse while using his invention. There was then a widespread recognition that something must be done, and "in 1858 Morse was awarded the sum of 400,000 French francs (equivalent to about $80,000 at the time) by the governments of France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Piedmont, Russia, Sweden, Tuscany and Turkey, each of which contributed a share according to the number of Morse instruments in use in each country."⁷

There was still no such recognition in the USA. This remained the case until 10 June, 1871, when a bronze statue of Samuel Morse was unveiled in Central Park, New York City.

In the 1850s, Morse became well known as a defender of America's institution of slavery, considering it to be divinely sanctioned. In his treatise "An Argument on the Ethical Position of Slavery," he wrote:

My creed on the subject of slavery is short. Slavery per se is not sin. It is a social condition ordained from the beginning of the world for the wisest purposes, benevolent and disciplinary, by Divine Wisdom. The mere holding of slaves, therefore, is a condition having per se nothing of moral character in it, any more than the being a parent, or employer, or ruler.^[6]

Samuel Morse was a generous man who gave large sums to charity. He also became interested in the relationship of science and religion and provided the funds to establish a lectureship on 'the relation of the Bible to the Sciences'.⁹ Morse was not a selfish man. Other people and corporations (particularly in North America) made millions using his inventions, yet most rarely paid him for the use of his patented telegraph. He was not bitter about this, though he would have appreciated more rewards for his labors. Morse was comfortable; by the time of his death, his estate was valued at some $500,000.

Marriages

Morse married first, Lucretia Pickering Walker on 29 September, 1819, in Concord, New Hampshire. She died on 7 February, 1825, shortly after the birth of their third child. He then married, Sarah Elizabeth Griswold on 10 August 1848 in Utica, New York.

Death

He died on 2 April, 1872 at his home at 5 West 22nd Street, New York City, at the age of eighty, and was buried in the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. ^[7]

Patents

U.S. Patent Telegraph, May 1, 1849

Trivia

Morse invented a marble-cutting machine that could carve three dimensional sculptures in marble or stone. Morse couldn't patent it, however, because of an existing 1820 Thomas Blanchard design.
New York University's core curriculum and list of requirements is known as the Morse Academic Plan (MAP).
A letter to a friend describing the challenge of defending his patent on the electromagnetic telegraph, although he had no part in its invention since his friend Alfred Vail imported this invention by Carl Friedrich Gauss from Europe, and Morse is even suspected to have received the Morse Code from Vail.[2] (1848).[3]

I have been so constantly under the necessity of watching the movements of the most unprincipled set of pirates I have ever known, that all my time has been occupied in defense, in putting evidence into something like legal shape that I am the inventor of the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph!! Would you have believed it ten years ago that a question could be raised on that subject?

There is a blue plaque commemorating him at 141 Cleveland Street, London, where he lived 1812-15.

Statue of Samuel F. B. Morse by Byron M. Picket, New York's Central Park, dedicated 1871

References and notes

^ Morse, Edward Lind. "Defends His Father's Claim to Paternity of the Telegraph.", New York Times, June 21, 1904, Tuesday. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. “My attention has been called to a communication in The New York Times of June 7 headed "Vail, Father of the Telegraph," and signed Stephen Vail. While I have no desire to enter into a newspaper controversy with Mr. Vail, and while I am sure that you have no desire to encourage one, I trust in justice to my father, Samuel F.B. Morse, you will allow me a few words in reply.”
^ Samuel F. B. Morse. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
^ One of Yale's twelve residential colleges, Morse College, was subsequently named after Morse in 1961
^ Istanbul City Guide: Beylerbeyi Palace
^ "Franklin and his Electric Kite-Prosecution and Progress of Electrical researches--Historical Sketch of the Electric Telegraph--Claims of Morse and others--Uses of Electricity--Telegraphic Statistics.", New York Times, November 11, 1852, Wednesday. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. “It was in the month of June, 1752, a century ago, that Franklin made his celebrated experiment with the Electric Kite, by means of which he demonstrated the identity of electricity and lightning.”
^ From An Argument on the Ethical Position of Slavery in the social system, and its relation to the politics of the day (New York, Papers from the Society for the Diffusion of Political Knowledge, no. 12, 1863) in Slavery Pamphlets # 60, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript library, Yale University. Quoted in "Yale, Slavery, & Abolition," an online report on Yale honorees, at http://www.yaleslavery.org/WhoYaleHonors/morse.htm
^ "Prof. Samuel Finley Breese Morse.", New York Times, April 3, 1872, Wednesday. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. “Prof. Morse died last evening at 8 o'clock, his condition having become very low soon after surprise. Though expected, the death of this distinguished man will be received with regret by thousands to whom he was only known by fame.”

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Samuel F. B. Morse

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