Capitalism Matters: How Financial and Technological Innovations Shaped U.S. Telegraphs, 1845–60 (January 2022)
This article encourages historians of technology to elevate the history of capitalism from a subsidiary theme to a research agenda. It studies the United States's early telegraphs to exemplify the inseparability of technology and capitalism. Entrepreneurs were able to innovate technologically (build telegraph systems) thanks to innovating financially. After trying and failing to sell large amounts of stock to a few investors in big cities for funding construction, entrepreneurs succeeded by selling small amounts of stock to many investors spread across the country. Financial innovators turned technology users into investors. Conversely, entrepreneurs were able to innovate financially because of their technological innovation. They built telegraphs to sell stock. Corporate charters made a company's capital a multiple of its line mileage, so the only way to increase capital was to build lines.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Regele, Lindsay Schakenbach;
(January 2018)
The World’s Best Carpets: Erastus Bigelow and the Financing of Antebellum Innovation
(/isis/citation/CBB469460823/)
Book
Torsten Kathke;
(2017)
Wires That Bind: Nation, Region, and Technology in the Southwestern United States, 1854–1920
(/isis/citation/CBB727083446/)
Article
Wheeler, Tom;
(Winter 2011)
Lincoln's T-mails
(/isis/citation/CBB384873309/)
Book
Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra;
(2019)
Automating Finance: Infrastructures, Engineers, and the Making of Electronic Markets
(/isis/citation/CBB463429723/)
Article
Schwarz, Frederic;
(Winter 2007)
Winning Wars With Wires-and Without
(/isis/citation/CBB796371205/)
Article
Schwarz, Frederic;
(Spring 2007)
Sometimes a Dumb Notion
(/isis/citation/CBB799146306/)
Article
Wolpin, Stewart;
(Winter 2007)
Hold the Phone
(/isis/citation/CBB850356489/)
Book
Marsden, Ben;
Smith, Crosbie;
(2003)
Engineering an Empire: Technology, Science and Culture, 1760--1914
(/isis/citation/CBB000330977/)
Book
Winseck, Dwayne Roy;
Pike, Robert M.;
(2007)
Communication and Empire: Media, Markets, and Globalization, 1860--1930
(/isis/citation/CBB000950953/)
Article
Sánchez Miñana, Jesús;
Sánchez Ruiz, Carlos;
(2019)
Adjudicatarios directos y proponentes ignorados: un repaso a la contratación y vicisitudes del funcionamiento de los primeros cables telegráficos submarinos en España
(/isis/citation/CBB969031397/)
Chapter
Timm, Arnulf;
(2005)
Der elektromagnetische Telegraph von Gauß und Weber
(/isis/citation/CBB001232265/)
Article
Hoag, Christopher;
(2006)
The Atlantic Telegraph Cable and Capital Market Information Flows
(/isis/citation/CBB000660455/)
Article
Müller-Pohl, Simone;
Tworek, Heidi J. S.;
(2015)
“The Telegraph and the Bank”: On the Interdependence of Global Communications and Capitalism, 1866--1914
(/isis/citation/CBB001422663/)
Chapter
Mullaney, Thomas S.;
(2014)
Semiotic Sovereignty: The 1871 Chinese Telegraph Code in Historical Perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB001213957/)
Article
Wolpin, Stewart;
(Summer 2010)
Guide to Innovation: Smart Phones
(/isis/citation/CBB637420820/)
Book
Christopher Kobrak;
Joe Martin;
(2018)
From Wall Street to Bay Street: The Origins and Evolution of American and Canadian Finance
(/isis/citation/CBB898988875/)
Book
Carey, James W;
(1989)
Communication as culture: Essays on media and society
(/isis/citation/CBB001180089/)
Article
Lars Bluma;
(2007)
Heavy Snowfall, Elephants, Sabotage and other little incidents: The Role of Incident-innovations for the Evolution of the German Telephone System
(/isis/citation/CBB230972077/)
Article
Don L. Hofsommer;
(Spring/Summer 2014)
Edwin Hawley: "The little Harriman"
(/isis/citation/CBB399067383/)
Book
Mary E. Hansen;
(2020)
Bankrupt in America: A history of debtors, their creditors, and the law in the twentieth century
(/isis/citation/CBB854490906/)
Be the first to comment!