This page shows questions in the Telegraph public release module at MSDE. 8th Grade Social Studies
"Telegraph"
Select from the list to explore. Read any associated passages and then interact with the questions here.
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Note: This set contains more items than what would regularly appear on an operational test. An operational EBAS would contain four 2-point items and one 4-point item.
Items that have student responses were field-tested on MCAP assessments and may or may not have been used operationally prior to public release.
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Introduction
A student is researching inventions from the 1800s. The compelling question is:
Did telegraph communication improve people’s lives?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
The electric telegraph was developed in the United States by Samuel Morse in the 1830s. The telegraph was a new form of communication that used electronic signals to transmit words. It allowed people to send messages over long distances at a rate of ten words per minute. The first telegraph line in the United States was completed in 1844. It connected Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
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Source Information: This excerpt is from a newspaper editorial published on March 28, 1845. The author of the article is unknown. On January 1, 1845, John Tawell was observed leaving the scene of a crime in Slough, England (about 20 miles west of London).
Source A
. . . as soon as he [Tawell] was gone, Mr. C. communicated his suspicions to the person who conducts the electric telegraph. A signal was made to the station in London that a person was in the first class carriage [train car] who ought to be watched. Quick as the train went, the signal was there long before the train arrived at the London terminus [station]. A policeman was on the platform, and as soon as the prisoner got out of the carriage the policeman saw him get into an omnibus [bus], and putting on a plain coat over his police dress, he stepped up . . . with the conductor . . . The next morning further intelligence was received from Slough, and . . . the officer then took him [Tawell] into custody . . .
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Source Information: This 1845 advertisement appears in History of Telegraphy, a book by Dr. Ken Beauchamp, published in 2001. It is part of the History of Technology series by the British Institution of Engineering and Technology. Dr. Beauchamp was a lecturer and researcher in telecommunications and computing as well as a published author. This re-created advertisement invites the public to a demonstration of this new invention.
Source B
THE WONDER of the AGE!!
INSTANTANEOUS COMMUNICATION
THE GALVANIC AND ELECTRO-MAGNETIC
TELEGRAPHS
The Electric Telegraph is unlimited in nature and extent of its communications; by its extraordinary agency a person in London could converse with another at New York, or at any other place however distant, as easily and nearly as rapidly as if both parties were in the same room. Questions proposed by Visitors will be asked by means of this Apparatus [device], and answers . . . will instantaneously be returned by a person 20 Miles off, . . .
The Electric Fluid travels at the rate of 280,000 Miles per Second.
By its powerful agency Murderers have been apprehended [caught] (as in the late case of Tawell), Thieves detected, and lastly (which is of no little importance), the timely assistance of Medical aid has been procured [received] in cases which otherwise would have proved fatal.
ADMISSION ONE SHILLING
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Source Information: This editorial was originally published in a Pennsylvania newspaper in 1861. It now appears on the American Historical Association’s website collection titled "16 Months to Sumter: Newspaper Editorials on the Path to Secession." Founded in 1884, the AHA is a nonprofit organization that “promotes historical work and the importance of historical thinking . . . serves historians in a wide variety of professions, and represents every historical era and geographical area.”
Source C
. . . The telegraph, instead of being a blessing, is a curse to the country . . . No doubt, under the control of honest and conscientious men, and confined in its operations to the transmission of facts . . . it would be productive of much good, and be an efficient medium of communication. But this is not the case . . .
The telegraph is a money-making institution . . . Does not every one see at a glance how completely its interests are at variance [in conflict] with those of the public? And does not every one see . . . the tremendous power it must wield, as long as implicit [complete] reliance is placed in the statements it furnishes as news?
We warn the people to beware of this new power . . .
. . . No news which it sends over the wire is reliable . . . One half of its “reports,” and “rumors” are the pure inventions of the imagination . . .
. . . The telegraph is a positive nuisance. Unless it is shorn [deprived] of its strength, by unbelief in all it says and does . . . it can cry down the good and elevate the bad; . . . it can elect any man, almost, President of the United States . . .
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Source Information: Dr. David Hochfelder is an associate professor and the director of the Public History Program at the University at Albany in New York. Dr. Hochfelder has focused much of his career on the history of technology in the United States. This article was published in 2015 as part of a collection called the Essential Civil War Curriculum developed by Virginia Tech University.
Source D
The military telegraph also proved valuable on several occasions as an operational and tactical tool on the battlefield, allowing commanders to remain in constant touch with subordinates [troops] and to react quickly to changing conditions. [General] McClellan adroitly [cleverly] used the telegraph to resupply his troops with bullets and shells in the midst of the Battle of Antietam . . . Assistant Secretary of War Charles Anderson Dana later praised the utility of the telegraph when he witnessed Union forces in action . . . noting that “it was one of the most useful accessories of our army,” giving General Rosecrans “constant information on the way the battle was going.” Also, Dana was able to send eleven telegrams to Washington, apprising [notifying] [Secretary of War] Stanton of the progress of the battle on almost an hourly basis.
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Source Information: This excerpt is from a 2018 article written by Helen Fessenden about the impact of the telegraph cable that connected the United States and the United Kingdom. It appeared in Econ Focus, an economics magazine of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Fessenden is an editor, reporter, and author, who has written articles for various online and print publications.
Source E
The Great Telegraph Breakthrough of 1866
. . . In record time, the prices of commodities [products] traded on both sides of the [Atlantic] ocean could be transmitted to merchants who needed that information to buy or sell their products . . .
. . . the average difference between New York and Liverpool [England] prices was 2.56 pence [British money] per pound of cotton prior to the cable [telegraph], it fell to 1.65 pence per pound—a drop of more than a third—right after . . .
In turn, thanks to more timely and accurate information, New York traders were better able to adjust export volumes to meet . . . demand. Rather than spend money on costly storage . . . exporters could calibrate [adjust] their shipments more efficiently . . . The cotton trade experienced an 8 percent efficiency gain in annual export value, mostly from the reduced variations in price differences due to the cable.
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Consider the Source Information provided for Source A.
What information raises concerns about Source A’s usefulness for learning about different types of communication?
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Source E states, “In turn, thanks to more timely and accurate information, New York traders were better able to adjust export volumes to meet . . . demand.”
Explain how Source D supports the impact of the telegraph described in Source E.
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Why might a historian question Source B’s usefulness for learning about the impact of the telegraph?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
Select one detail that shows Source D’s usefulness as evidence for learning about how communication has changed over time.
Dr. David Hochfelder is an associate professor and the director of the Public History Program at the University at Albany in New York. Dr. Hochfelder has focused much of his career on the history of technology in the United States. This article was published in 2015 as part of a collection called the Essential Civil War Curriculum developed by Virginia Tech University.
Part B
Explain how the detail you selected in Part A shows Source D's usefulness as evidence for learning about how communication has changed over time.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
How does Source A support a feature of the telegraph advertised in Source B?
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
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The invention of the telegraph improved public safety.
Explain how evidence from Source A supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The invention of the telegraph changed military strategy during the Civil War.
Explain how evidence from Source D supports the statement.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
Did telegraph communication improve people's lives?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how a different source supports your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.