In 1844, a painter named Samuel Morse and machinist Alfred Vail shattered the oldest limit on human civilization: the speed of information. Their electromagnetic telegraph sent messages by wire at the speed of electricity, ending an era when news traveled no faster than a horse or a ship. Host Newt opens his 15-part series, Greatest American Inventions: 1776 to 2026, with Morse's historic first transmission—"What hath God wrought"—and traces how the telegraph created the template every future network would follow: infrastructure, standards, and value that grows with scale. It's the origin story of modern markets, journalism, and connected America.

Episode 1051: The End of a Fair Price — Lindsay Owens on How Companies Use Your Data to Charge You More
40:28

Episode 1050: The Midterms, 27 Days Out — McLaughlin and Sosnik on Who Will Control Congress
41:35

Episode 1049: The Exhausted Majority — Who Independents Really Are and Why They'll Decide 2026
35:24