The telegraph message sent in 1844 by Samuel Morse from Baltimore to The Capitol building in Washington, DC, read simply, “What hath God wrought?” This was the first major demonstration of the ability of Morse’s invention to send and receive messages over long distances. The general question could also be applied to other significant technological developments of the nineteenth century. Two innovations, the telegraph and railroads, dramatically impacted government, industry, and the American people overall.

The telegraph and the steam engine-based railroads developed along parallel lines in their early years, but their advent had ripple effects throughout the country and throughout the world. Before steam and later diesel engines powered modern trains, wheeled carriages ran along metal rails, usually pulled by horses or mules. With the invention of the steam engine, trains could transport freight and passengers much further and faster than was even imaginable only a few years earlier. At first, the railroad industry was a relatively localized enterprise, with tracks that stretched only a bit further than the rails traveled by horse-drawn vehicles. But the nascent business grew and expanded its reach with the help of state government subsidies and joint ventures between corporations and state governments.

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