George Washington surveillence question

[Eric J in MN]

Joking about George Washington doing electronic surveillence aside, is there an actual historical event involving George Washington and surveillence?

[GemMom]

1. There was all kinds of spying going on

during the American Revolutionary War.

[zbdent]

4. True . . . but that wasn't against

AMERICAN CITIZENS . . . since America wasn't its own country (WITH A CONSTITUTION!!!)

[Bluzmann57]

2. Well he was a general in the Revolutionary war

One which was fought against oppression and one would suspect that there must have been some kind of surveillance going on. Of course, the USA wasn't officially a country yet, so does it count?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. There were spies during the Revolutionary War.

The most famous of them was Nathan Hale, who disguised himself as a Dutch schoolmaster in order to go behind enemy lines and gather information about the Redcoats' military strategy. He wasn't a very good spy; they caught him and hanged him. But Washington wasn't the president then; there was no Constitution; and there sure as hell wasn't any electronic surveillance.

[Eric J in MN]

5. Anyone else know what Gonzales was talking about? nt

nt

[Steve A Play]

6. Unless George Washington was a time traveler

Gonzo is.....well, GONZO! :crazy:

Even the lamps used in the Old North Church that signaled that the British invasion was underway were oil lamps. :)

Lincoln had balloons to 'spy' with during the civil war but they were fairly obvious to see.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelegraph.htm

The History of the Telegraph and Telegraphy

The Beginning of Electronic Communications
In 1825, British inventor William Sturgeon (1783-1850) exhibited a device that laid the foundations for large-scale electronic communications: the electromagnet. Sturgeon displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wires through which the current of a single cell battery was sent.

In 1830, an American, Joseph Henry (1797-1878), demonstrated the potential of Sturgeon's device for long distance communication by sending an electronic current over one mile of wire to activate an electromagnet which caused a bell to strike. Thus the electric telegraph was born. Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872), whose sketches of a "magnetized magnet" in operation are shown here, successfully exploited Henry's invention commercially.

While a professor of arts and design at New York University in 1835, Samuel Morse proved that signals could be transmitted by wire. He used pulses of current to deflect an electromagnet, which moved a marker to produce written codes on a strip of paper - the invention of Morse Code. The following year, the device was modified to emboss the paper with dots and dashes. He gave a public demonstration in 1838, but it was not until five years later that Congress (reflecting public apathy) funded $30,000 to construct an experimental telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore, a distance of 40 miles.

Six years later, members of Congress witnessed the sending and receiving of messages over part of the telegraph line. Before the line had reached Baltimore, the Whig party held its national convention there, and on May 1, 1844, nominated Henry Clay. This news was hand-carried to Annapolis Junction (between Washington and Baltimore) where Morse's partner, Alfred Vail, wired it to the Capitol. This was the first news dispatched by electric telegraph.

Steven P. :kick: