On 14 May 1844, Samuel Morse officially inaugurated the first long-distance electrical telegraph link between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington D.C. by transmitting the now-famous message: “What hath God wrought.” The message was suggested by Annie Ellsworth, daughter of the U.S. Patent Commissioner, and is a biblical quotation (Numbers 23:23). Morse had patented the telegraph in 1837 and spent years securing government funding for the Baltimore–Washington demonstration line. The telegraph revolutionised mass communication by enabling the near-instantaneous transmission of news over long distances, which had a profound impact on the newspaper industry. Note: The phrase “Come here Watson I need you” is associated with Alexander Graham Bell's telephone (1876), not Morse's telegraph.