How Did The Telegraph Impact America And Improve The Economy From 1750 To 1900

How did the invention and development of the telegraph, impact America, and improve the economy from 1750 to 1900? Samuel Morse created the telegraph in the 1830 to 1840s after hearing the idea from two inventors, who were travelling with him. The telegraph was an invention that made a large positive impact on the American economy and led to many other ideas for communicating. With the transformation of the telegraph, people were flooding to the new jobs offered (e.g., journalism, linesman ). However, that was not the only positive impact: national and international markets combined to form better trade connections and, diplomatic relations improved immensely. In the following paragraphs we will evaluate the positive impacts of added communication …show more content…

The telegraph changed this as according to an American journalist “it allowed information about towns and cities to be relayed faster, facilitating railroad growth, making businesses more stable.” Stable businesses increased the stability of the economy as they have less of a chance to go bankrupt and can give a small amount of their profit to fund future projects. According to a governmental journalism account, “by 1851 50 different companies had started making money by using the telegraph” this shows how people relied on the fast and cheaper information costs, and that the communication industry was extremely profitable. In turn, the millions of dollars these companies made aided the economy, by funding more telegraph projects such as telegraph wires and telegraph stations. In the picture supplied by a newspaper from around peak building time, it is shown that all North American states were connected by telegraph wires (except for Florida). Trading between the states became immensely popular with this new development in communication, as suddenly the world was much smaller. In order to accommodate the growing market goods and services were being produced faster, and the economy boomed with the number of people purchasing newspapers, and telegraphs for business or family …show more content…

Such as the journalist, telegraph processor and the linesman. The linesman would place and string the telegraph wires around the poles. For businesses, this was essential for the telegraph to work. However, there was a fatal flaw in this plan, the equipment was very expensive and the labour was arduous. Resulting in the pay and physical well-being of the employees being less than satisfactory. “The constant danger that besets the limbs and lives of the operators is appalling. Workmen are frequently sent to the top of a high pole, standing on a little platform scarcely larger than the palm of the hand, and reaching up to work with pliers among numerous crossing and tangled wires, one of which, if touched by the elbow or any part of the person, is sufficient to hurl one to the ground a mangled corpse." E.L. Godkin. This passage shows the issues within the work the men were doing. In order for businesses to make large amounts of money, they had to sacrifice the safety. “Sufficient to hurl one to the ground a mangled corpse.” As mentioned above, this work was dangerous and resulted in casualties. The economy benefited from the labour of the workers, but the day-to-day life was