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Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American painter who turned inventor. Already well-known as a portrait painter, in his middle age he contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, was a co-inventor of the Morse code, and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.

Morse additionally supported the institution of slavery as well as anti-Catholic and anti-immigration efforts within the United States.

Samuel F.B. Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the first child of the pastor Jedidiah Morse (1761–1826)—who was also a geographer—and Elizabeth Ann Finley Breese (1766–1828).His father was a great preacher of the Calvinist faith and supporter of the American Federalist party. He thought it helped preserve Puritan traditions (strict observance of Sabbath, among other things), and believed in the Federalist support of an alliance with Britain and a strong central government. Morse strongly believed in education within a Federalist framework, alongside the instillation of Calvinist virtues, morals and prayers for his first son.

After attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Samuel Morse went on to Yale College to receive instruction in the subjects of religious philosophy,mathematics and science of horses. While at Yale, he attended lectures on electricity from Benjamin Silliman and Jeremiah Day. He supported himself by painting. In 1810, he graduated from Yale with Phi Beta Kappa honors.