Part 27 (2/2)

This was on the 29th of May, 1844, and was the first public message sent by magnetic telegraph. It marked an era in the history of civilization.

Investigation seems to establish that Professor Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tute, was the real inventor of the electro-magnetic telegraph, though that honor has been given and will continue to be given by most people to Professor Samuel F.B. Morse, whose relation to the telegraph was much the same as that of Fulton to the steamboat. He added to the ideas of those before him and first brought them into practical use.

Professor Morse deserves all the credit he has received as one of the greatest of inventors. He studied painting when young and became an artist of considerable skill. As early as 1832 he conceived the idea of an electro-magnetic telegraph and began his experiments. The project absorbed all his energies until he became what is called in these days a ”crank,” which is often the name of one who gives all his thoughts and efforts to the development of a single project. He drifted away from his relatives, who looked upon him as a visionary dreamer, and when his ragged clothes and craving stomach demanded attention, he gave instruction in drawing to a few students who clung to him.

Light gradually dawned upon Morse, and he continued his labors under discouragements that would have overcome almost any other man. He secured help from Alfred Vail, of Morristown, N.J., who invented the alphabetical characters and many essential features of the system, besides furnis.h.i.+ng Morse with funds, without which his labors would have come to a standstill. There was not enough capital at command to construct a line of telegraph, and Morse and his few friends haunted Congress with their plea for an appropriation. Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, gave a.s.sistance, and, finally, in the very closing days of the session of Congress in 1844, an appropriation of $30,000 was made to defray the expenses of a line between Baltimore and Was.h.i.+ngton.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SPEEDWELL IRON WORKS, MORRISTOWN, N.J.

Here was forged the shaft for the Savannah, the first steams.h.i.+p which crossed the Atlantic. Here was manufactured the tires, axles and cranks of the first American locomotive. Shop in which Vail and Baxter constructed the first telegraph apparatus, invented by Morse, for exhibition before Congress.]

The invention, like most others of an important nature, was subjected to merciless ridicule. A wag hung a pair of muddy boots out of a window in Was.h.i.+ngton, with a placard announcing that they belonged to a man who had just arrived by telegraph; another placed a package on the wires, and called to his friends to see it whisked away by lightning; while many opposed the apparent experimenting with the electric fluid, which they believed would work all sorts of mischief. Nevertheless, the patient toilers kept at work, often stopped by accident, and in the face of all manner of opposition. The first line was laid underground, and, as has been shown, carried the news of Polk's nomination for the presidency to Was.h.i.+ngton.

Professor Morse was in Was.h.i.+ngton, and the first message was dictated by Annie Ellsworth, March 28, 1844, and received by Alfred Vail, forty miles away in Baltimore. It consisted of the words, ”What hath G.o.d wrought?” and the telegram is now in the possession of the Connecticut Historical Society. It may be said that since then the earth has been girdled by telegraph lines, numbers of which pa.s.s under the ocean, uniting all nations and the uttermost extremities of the world.

In the preceding pages we have done little more than give the results of the various presidential campaigns. The two leading political parties were the Whigs and the Democrats, and many of the elections were of absorbing interest, not only to the partic.i.p.ants, but to the country at large. Several were distinguished by features worthy of permanent record, since they throw valuable light upon the times, now forgotten, and were attended in many instances by far-reaching results.

It seems proper, therefore, that a chapter should be devoted to the most important presidential campaigns preceding and including one of the most memorable--that of 1840--often referred to as the ”hard cider campaign.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAMPAIGN SPEECHMAKING IN EARLIER DAYS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD GATES AT ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA.]

CHAPTER XII.

FAMOUS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS PREVIOUS TO 1840.

The Origin of the ”Caucus”--The Election of 1792--The First Stormy Election--The Const.i.tution Amended--Improvement of the Method of Nominating Presidential Candidates--The First Presidential Convention--Convention in Baltimore in 1832--Exciting Scenes--The Presidential Campaign of 1820--”Old Hickory”--Andrew Jackson's Popularity--Jackson Nominated--”Old Hickory” Defeated--The ”Log-Cabin”

and ”Hard-Cider” Campaign of 1840--”Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”--Peculiar Feature of the Harrison Campaign.

The presidential nominating convention is a modern inst.i.tution. In the early days of the Republic a very different method was pursued in order to place the candidates for the highest office in the land before the people.

THE ORIGIN OF THE ”CAUCUS.”

In the first place, as to the origin of the ”caucus.” In the early part of the eighteenth century a number of caulkers connected with the s.h.i.+pping business in the North End of Boston held a meeting for consultation. That meeting was the germ of the political caucuses which have formed so prominent a feature of our government ever since its organization.

The Const.i.tution of our country was framed and signed in the month of September, 1787, by the convention sitting in Philadelphia, and then sent to the various Legislatures for their action. It could not become binding until ratified by nine States. On the 2d of July, 1788, Congress was notified that the necessary nine States had approved, and on the 13th of the following September a day was appointed for the choice of electors for President. The day selected was the first Wednesday of January, 1789. The date for the beginning of proceedings under the new Const.i.tution was postponed to the first Wednesday in March, which happened to fall on the 4th. In that way the 4th of March became fixed as the date of the inauguration of each President, except when the date is on Sunday, when it becomes the 5th.

Congress met at that time in the city of New York. It was not until the 1st of April that a quorum for business appeared in the House of Representatives, and the Senate was organized on the 6th of that month.

The electors who were to choose the President were selected by the various State Legislatures, each elector being ent.i.tled to cast two votes. The rule was that the candidate receiving the highest number became President, while the next highest vote elected the Vice-President. The objection to this method was that the two might belong to different political parties, which very condition of things came about at the election of the second President, when John Adams was chosen to the highest office and Thomas Jefferson to the second. The former was a Federalist, while Jefferson was a Republican, or, as he would have been called later, a Democrat. Had Adams died while in office, the policy of his administration would have been changed.

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