Taming the lightning: American telegraphy as a revolutionary technology, 1832-186

This dissertation examines antebellum telegraphy as a revolutionary technology in both senses of that term, as a revolution in technological practice and as a transformative technology with revolutionary social and cultural effects. Historians of technology who have studied early telegraphy have argued that it was mainly a mechanical technology with strong ties to long-standing machine-shop culture and practices. Conversely, most historians believe that early telegraphy constituted a communications revolution; they have credited it with engendering immediate and deep effects upon commerce, society, and culture.;I argue instead that the telegraph was a technological revolution, a radical break from existing technical practices and communities, because it was an electrical technology with strong links to recent scientific discovery, and it was one of the first technologies to be organized as a system. I also claim that the telegraph did not usher in a communications revolution by 1860. Instead, it was an evolutionary technology; its impact upon American society and culture was much more subtle and gradual than contemporaries and historians have allowed. Antebellum telegraphy is best viewed as an important part of a larger communication and information network which also consisted of a completed postal system, reliable and accessible steam transportation, and a diverse and growing literary culture. While telegraphy did not immediately usher in a communications revolution, it did come to affect many areas of American life by the 1870s and 1880s. But its transformative power depended less on the technology itself than on the ways in which its owners and customers connected it to existing trends and issues in politics, economics, and mass culture.;In particular, I cover four related topics. Chapter 1 examines Morse as an inventor, paying particular attention to his intellectual and cultural contexts and his cognitive skills which helped him to succeed as an inventor. Chapter 2 explores the strong connection of Morse's telegraph to the practices and culture of the contemporary scientific community. Chapter 3 discusses the protracted legal baffle over the scope and validity of Morse's patent rights. Chapter 4 evaluates the antebellum telegraph as an agent of social and cultural change.