American Mail Born: Goddard Creates the Postal System
William Goddard forced the Continental Congress to establish a Constitutional Post after the royal mail failed his Pennsylvania Chronicle, prompting Benjamin Franklin to launch a streamlined colonial network that connected Maine to Florida before independence was even declared. This urgent infrastructure survived the revolution and evolved into a permanent federal system, eventually transforming from a presidential patronage prize into an independent corporation in 1971.
February 20, 1792
234 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on February 20
The Visconti family was fighting itself. Lodrisio Visconti, exiled from Milan, hired the Company of St. George — 2,500 German mercenaries who'd never lost a bat…
King Christian I of Denmark and Norway pledged the Orkney and Shetland islands to Scotland as collateral for his daughter Margaret’s dowry. When he failed to pa…
King Christian I of Denmark pawned the Orkney and Shetland islands to Scotland to cover his daughter Margaret’s unpaid dowry. This desperate financial maneuver …
Ponce de León left Puerto Rico with 200 settlers, two ships, and a land grant from the Spanish Crown. He'd "discovered" Florida eight years earlier — meaning he…
Nine-year-old Edward VI received the crown at Westminster Abbey, becoming the first English monarch raised as a Protestant. His ascension accelerated the Englis…
Yohannan Sulaqa traveled to Rome to profess his Catholic faith, securing his ordination as the first Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church. This formal unio…
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