West Chester University Digital Commons @ West Chester University Anthropology & Sociology College of Arts & Sciences 2015 Lenape ("Delaware") Mail Carriers and the Origins of the US Postal Service Marshall Joseph Becker West Chester University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/anthrosoc_facpub Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Becker, M. J. (2015). Lenape ("Delaware") Mail Carriers and the Origins of the US Postal Service. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 39(3), 99-121. http://dx.doi.org/10.17953/aicrj.39.3.becker This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts & Sciences at Digital Commons @ West Chester University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology & Sociology by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ West Chester University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. DOI 10.17953/aicrj.39.3.becker C OMMENT A RY à à à Lenape (“Delaware”) Mail Carriers and the Origins of the US Postal Service Marshall Joseph Becker ore than simply a pleasant means for individuals to communicate over long Mdistances, during the colonial period an efficient and reliable mail service had distinct military and political value. Early histories of the United States Postal Service (USPS) offer useful surveys of the postal systems developed by immigrant Europeans, but Native forerunners of the USPS generally are not considered.1 Formal histories of the USPS, first written