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The United States Postal Service an American History 1775– 2002 HE STORYOFTHEUNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE IS a STORY of TRANSFORMATION

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The United States Postal Service an American History 1775– 2002 HE STORYOFTHEUNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE IS a STORY of TRANSFORMATION The United States Postal Service An American History 1775– 2002 HE STORYOFTHEUNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE IS A STORY OF TRANSFORMATION. Starting as an informal network that kept settlers and T colonists in touch with each other and with their homelands, America’s postal system has changed to meet the needs of the nation it serves. Postal history is a work in progress. It is an ongoing saga of enormous breadth and depth, rooted in a single, great principle: that every person in the United States — no matter who, no matter where — has the right to equal access to secure, efficient, and affordable mail service. For more than 225 years, the United States Postal Service has delivered on that promise, reaching further as the nation has grown and moving faster as technology has developed. Our universal mail system has strengthened the bonds of friendship, family, and community. It has encouraged civic discourse and advanced the spread of information and educational opportunity. It has been a key element of our economy, both as the hub of a vital industry and as a trusted courier of the nation’s — and the world’s — business. The story of the United States Postal Service is also the story of technology. Whether in transportation or in leading the development of new and better ways to process the nation’s mail, the Postal Service always has sought out the latest and most effective ways to get the job done. Above all, the story of the United States Postal Service is the story of men and women whose daily efforts have provided our nation with the finest and most efficient mail service in the world. Each and every day, they keep the mail moving, as they have for more than two centuries. Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged have kept them from their rounds. Our transformation will continue. The communications world has changed radically since the Post Office Department became the United States Postal Service in 1971. Our ability to provide affordable, universal mail service for everyone in America depends on our transformation. If our history has taught us one thing, it is that the United States Postal Service is one of the most adaptable organizations in America. Please enjoy this history of the United States Postal Service. It’s a story that we will continue to write every day — together. Sincerely, John E. Potter Postmaster General Tab l e o f Contents INTRODUCTION 3 COLONIAL TIMES 4 THE POSTAL SERVICE BEGINS 6 Early Postal Legislation . .6 The Constitution and the Post Office . .7 Ebenezer Hazard, Postmaster of New York . .7 Benjamin Franklin, First Postmaster General . .8 Abraham Lincoln, Postmaster . .9 Other Famous Postal Workers . .9 THE POSTAL ROLE IN U.S. DEVELOPMENT 10 Alexis de Tocqueville . .11 MOVINGTHEMAIL 12 Steamboats . .12 The Pony Express . .13 The Confederate Post Office Department . .14 Mail by Rail . .15 Owney, Mascot of the Railway Mail Service . .17 Star Routes . .18 REACHING OUT TO EVERYONE 20 Free City Delivery . .20 City Delivery Pioneer . .21 Rural Free Delivery (RFD) . .22 Postmasters in the Mid-19th Century . .23 THE 20TH CENTURY 26 Parcel Post . .26 Postal Savings System . .27 Airmail . .27 New York to San Francisco . .29 Airmail Pilot Bill Hopson . .30 ZIP Code . .31 U.S. Postage Stamps . .32 POSTAL REORGANIZATION 34 Reform Proposal . .34 Postal Reorganization Act . .35 UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE 36 Finances and Rates . .36 Personnel . .36 Labor-Management Relations . .36 Transportation . .36 Pay . .37 Postal Mechanization and Early Automation . .37 Rates for Domestic Letters . .37 ZIP+4 Code . .39 The Automation Age . .40 Beyond the Processing Plant . .40 The Postal Service Board of Governors . .42 Governors of the Postal Service . .43 Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee . .44 COMPETITION AND CHANGE 46 Transformation Plan . .46 Funding Civil Service Retirement . .47 President’s Commission on the Postal Service . .47 Commission Members . .48 Industry Support for the Commission . .48 Dealing with the Unimaginable . .48 Medal of Freedom . .48 Postal Insignia . .49 POSTMASTERS GENERAL 50 STATISTICS: PIECES & POST OFFICES 52 SIGNIFICANT YEARS IN U.S. POSTAL HISTORY 54 RESEARCH SOURCES 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY 58 NOTES 60 An American History 1775 – 2002 1 2 The United States Postal Service n July 26, 1775, members of the Second Continental OCongress, meeting in Philadelphia, agreed That a postmaster General be appointed for the United Colonies, who shall hold his office at Philada, and shall be allowed a salary of 1000 dollars per an: for himself, and 340 dollars per an: for a secretary and Comptroller, with power to appoint such, and so many deputies as to him may seem proper and necessary. That a line of posts be appointed under the direction of the Postmaster general, from Falmouth in New England to Savannah in Georgia, with as many cross posts as he shall think fit.1 This simple statement signaled the birth of the Post Office Department, the predecessor of the United States Postal Service and the second oldest federal department or agency of the United States.
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