New routes were established, and all newspapers could be mailed at the same low rate. In 1792, the Congress passed the Post Office Act. Rush believed the way to achieve this was to circulate newspapers to every American. In 1774, these American revolutionaries created the “Constitutional Post.” Before they had a Declaration of Independence or fought the revolution, before there was a constitution, Americans had the post.Īfter Americans gained independence from England, founding fathers, (particularly Benjamin Rush), believed the key to sustaining democratic institutions was a literate population. Twenty years later, ideas about American self-governance were spreading, and revolutionaries in the colonies knew they would need something other than the Crown’s post (which could be intercepted by England) to communicate. Franklin’s idea didn’t go anywhere at the time. In 1754, at a meeting of colonial representatives in Albany, New York, Franklin proposed a plan for uniting the colonies and electing their own representatives rather than having them appointed by the Crown. As he did so, he began to see the colonies differently. 1847 United States postage stamp of Benjamin Franklin denominated 5 centsīenjamin Franklin, one of the early postmasters for the Crown, traveled to every colony to make improvements in the system. And if you were a commoner in the colonies you also didn’t use the Crown’s post, you handed your message to a traveler and asked them to take it as far as they could and then pass it on. They were, like fractious siblings, only seeking the attention of Mother England. The Crown’s post was established by the English monarchy and used primarily for communications between the colonies and England.įor a while, the colonies themselves weren’t that interested in communicating with each other. The postal system of colonial America was much the same. But for most of history, these systems were used only by a small elite.
The service was designed to unite a bunch of disparate towns and people under one flag, and in doing so, she believes the post office actually created the United States of America.įor thousands of years, governments have devised ways of sending communications. Winifred Gallagher, author of How the Post Office Created America: A History, argues that the post office is not simply an inexpensive way to send a letter.
The Supai post office was established in 1896, and its existence speaks to the lengths that the postal service has gone to since its founding to connect people to each other. Early morning photograph of Havasu Falls at Supai by Traveling Man (CC BY-SA 3.0) The post office is there to serve the people on the Havasupai reservation. Every day, ten pack mules carrying mail make the two-and-a-half hour trip into the canyon. The Supai post office is located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. And one of these smaller ones may be the most rural post office in the continental U.S. Others are smaller-hidden away in the backs of general stores and in other odd places across rural America. Some are grand old ones that take up entire city blocks. There are currently more than 31,000 post offices in the United States.
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