Neither Snow Nor Rain · Episode 1 of 10 · 23 min
The Republic's Nervous System
A year before independence, the Continental Congress built a mail system and put Benjamin Franklin in charge. The founders then placed the post office in Article I, and the Post Office Act of 1792 made it the republic's information infrastructure: cheap newspaper rates, federal protection for private mail, and post roads pushed ahead of settlers. The episode also weighs the 1835 abolitionist mail crisis against that ideal.
Who's who
- Benjamin Franklin+1 more episodeCrown postmaster fired in 1774; first American Postmaster General
- William GoddardPrinter whose rebel Constitutional Post of 1774 became a model for Congress
- George Washington+5 more episodesPresident who signed the Post Office Act of 1792
- Benjamin Rush+2 more episodesAdvocate of the mails as civic education for every farmhouse
- John McLean+1 more episodePostmaster General 1823-1829 who oversaw the network's great expansion
- Amos KendallJackson's Postmaster General in the 1835 abolitionist mail crisis
- Alexis de Tocqueville+1 more episodeFrench observer amazed that mail reached the Michigan frontier before settlers
Where it happens
- Charleston, South Carolina+2 more episodesMob burned abolitionist mailings in July 1835
- Michigan frontier, United StatesTocqueville found letters and newspapers arriving ahead of settlement
Timeline
- 1753Franklin becomes joint postmaster general of the Crown's colonial post
- January 1774The Crown dismisses Franklin for revolutionary sympathies
- July 26, 1775Continental Congress establishes the Post Office and names Franklin Postmaster General
- February 20, 1792Washington signs the Post Office Act of 1792
- July 1835Charleston mob burns abolitionist mailings; Southern postmasters allowed to censor mail
- 1860-1861The private Pony Express runs about eighteen months
Still debated
Historians disagree on whether the 1792 Act was a deliberate choice about circulating knowledge or the product of revenue concerns, patronage, and regional bargaining. Credit for the 1775 system is also split between Congress and Goddard's Constitutional Post.
Connected episodes in other series
The GallowsTo Die or Not to Die · Episode 2Also features Benjamin Rush
How Jefferson and Madison Wrote Religious Freedom Into American LawA Wall of Separation · Episode 2Also features George Washington
How the Founders Broke Their Word to the IroquoisAs Long as the Grass Grows · Episode 3Also features George Washington
How the General Store Trapped Its Customers in DebtFrom the Trading Post to Amazon · Episode 1Also features George Washington