Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791–1872), was an artist by training and worked successfully as a portrait painter until the 1830s. Today, however, Morse is primarily remembered as the inventor of the electric telegraph and the related code system that bears his name. Prior to the introduction of the electrical telegraph in 1844, messages traveled no faster than the speed of a horse. However, with its nearly instantaneous speed, the telegraph forever revolutionized communications. As a Baltimore Sun reporter noted at the time, “Time and space has been completely annihilated.” In the painting, a model of the telegraph sits on the table in front of Morse. This video is featured in the "Men of Progress" section of the American Enterprise exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. (The video does not include an audio track). Teachers, parents, educators! Check out our resources to use these videos in the classroom here: https://historyexplorer.si.edu/resource/men-progress-video-series Section link: http://americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise-exhibition/videos/men-progress Exhibition link: http://americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise