Alright listen up, this is literally why the United States would not exist without the
Post Office.
The term “post” comes from the Latin, Positus, meaning position or station, as really
what makes a postal service work is its series of relay locations.
In medieval times, these locations were mostly taverns, where you could pick up your mail
and exchange a little gossip from afar for a pint.
For much of history, pretty much before the invention of the telegram, letters were pretty
much the only way to communicate over a distance further than you could walk – or yell.
Mail was the best way to get news about the rest of the world… that is, if you could
read and write, which most people couldn’t do, so it was mostly a tool of
the wealthy.
Even if the colonists were people who left or were kicked out of Europe for some reason,
they were still obsessed with what they considered “home,” so the official colonial postal
system of the 1600s was primary tailored to sending letters across the Atlantic.
Sending messages between colonies was a treacherous job, often given to slaves if done at all.
And England liked it this way.
The less connected the colonies were, the less likely they were to realize they were
outgrowing that little island across the sea.
This was the status quo for the next hundred years, until a new generation of people born
in the colonies started to not care as much about Europe.
This included the Post Master of Philadelphia, who in 1753 was promoted to Post Master General.
Weirdly, you may have heard of him, just a little guy named Benjamin Franklin.
Like many early Post Masters, Franklin was a printer and newspaper publisher by trade
and knew that for his readership to grow, so did the postal system.
First thing was building post roads between the colonies and major cities.
Largely based on Native American trails, these were the first interstates and many of them
would go on to be the basis of the routes that would become the modern day highway system.
Franklin also added overnight shipping between New York and Philadelphia, standardized postage
based on weight and distance, and decreased newspaper shipping rates, which yes, helped
his business but… he can be excused because once the flow of information opened up between
the colonies, they got talking and The Crown’s worst fears came true.
Even though his changes had turned the struggling colonial Post profitable, in 1774, England
SACKED Ben Franklin as Post Master General for siding with the revolutionaries.
This only freed him to spend more time on the cause.
And a year later In 1775, the Constitutional Post was founded and made Benjamin Franklin
made the Post Master General.
Which means , yes, the United States Post Office is older than the United States itself.
Once Ben Franklin got the Post Office in order, Franklin shot off to France to gain their
support for the Revolution – and enjoy all the French things he loved – like wine,
cheese, and ladies.
After the war, the earliest version of America under the messy Articles of Confederation
was far from a nation, but more of a region of loosely connected self-ruling states with
very different interests – long story short, it’s a miracle it survived through the writing
of the Constitution.
Upon being voted in as President, George Washington quickly realized that the only way this new
country had a chance was if the people were more connected to each other and the government.
His Answer, Mail!
Proponents of the Post Service, like Washington and Benjamin Rush argued that it acted as
an outpost for the Federal Government in every town in the country.
The Postal Service also created a more informed electorate by not only subsidizing the distribution
of newspapers but promoting the importance of reading and writing.
Remember Democracy was a brand-new concept, and all of this angered those that didn’t
want a central government carving roads or gaining too much power – they just overthrew
a monarch after all.
Also, richer land-owners were not exactly fans of their workers (or slaves) becoming
more educated to what was happening around the new country and world.
Rich people, always the worst.
Racism, always a problem.
Meanwhile, although probably no one has ever loved writing letters more, Alexander Hamilton,
Secretary of the Treasury, believed that the Postal Service should be able to support itself
financially.
Upon its creation, the Postal Service Act of 1792 turned the pretty abstract concept
democracy into a reality by bringing mail service, and in turn newspapers and information
to the entire population instead of just the rich.
The Postal Service was deemed so vital, it is one of the few government agencies explicitly
authorized in the Constitution, but in compromise, one of the only that is expected to not turn
a profit, while basically sustaining itself on only its own revenue.
It act also made the mail one of the first and strongest examples of our first amendment
which was only written a year before.
As any child will tell you, it is a crime to open another person’s mail.
In fact, partly because at the time it was the only way to send money, stealing mail
was initially punishable by death.
And as America grew, it was the Post that was at the very forefront of its expansion.
For most of the country’s existence, it was mostly wilderness, and the Postal System
was the initial force cutting roads and eventually railroads to connect all the new pockets of
America together.
A town was not a town until it had a Post Office, and truthfully, few people would have
adventured west without this link to the world.
In his farewell speech, George Washington called America “The Great Experiment.”
What he was referring to was that never in history had so many different people been
united into one – and he and many of the founders were afraid and some very sure it
would collapse.
The Post Office was one of their most important safeguards to prevent this.
Today, although it may be easy to write it off as outdated, the post carries everything
from subscription drugs, to your vote, to all of those weird late night impulse buys
online.
It was what made this country whole.
Attacking the post office is attacking America’s democracy.