The election of Harrison, followed by his untimely death only a month after his inauguration and the elevation of Tyler to the Presidency, prolonged the period of political uncertainty, so that Morse and his telegraph received but scant attention on Capitol Hill.
However, the year 1840 marked some progress, for on the 20th of June the first patent was issued to Morse.

It may be remembered that, while his caveat and petition were filed in 1837, he had requested that action on them be deferred until after his return from Europe.

He had also during the year been gradually perfecting his invention as time and means permitted.
It was during the year 1840, too, that Messrs.

Wheatstone and Cooke proposed to join forces with the Morse patentees in America, but this proposition was rejected, although Morse seems to have been almost tempted, for in a letter to Smith he says:-- "I send you copies of two letters just received from England.

What shall I say in answer?
Can we make any arrangements with them?
Need we do it?
Does not our patent secure us against foreign interference, or are we to be defeated, not only in England but in our own country, by the subsequent inventions of Wheatstone?
"I feel my hands tied; I know not what to say.