What is the significance of the telegraph?

The telegraph was an extremely important invention for communication and media. According to Britannica Enyclopedia the telegraph is any device or system that allows the transmission of information by coded signal over distance. Many telegraphic systems have been used over the centuries, but the term is most often understood to refer to the electric telegraph, which was developed in the mid-19th century and for more than 100 years was the principal means of transmitting printed information by wire or radio wave

In 1832 Samuel F.B. Morse, a professor of painting and sculpture at the University of the City of New York (later New York University), became interested in the possibility of electric telegraphy and made sketches of ideas for such a system. In 1835 he devised a system of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers. In 1837 he was granted a patent on an electromagnetic telegraph.

Before the electric telegraph, people had to wait long periods of time to get news from other states, regions, countries, etc. News was sent from one area to another by one person travelling to that other area to deliver the news. This slow system of communicating could take days, weeks, or even months depending on how far away the news was coming from. The telegraph led us into an age of more rapid communication, where it was not necessary for someone to travel to another city or country to deliver news. Eventually the telegraph led us into the telephone, which eventually led to the cell phone, which led us to cell phones that can do everything an anything. Now we dont think twice about calling our friends and family on the other side of the country. And though not easily, the telegraph was the first invention that allowed us to do this.