Franklin Leads Post Office: America's First Mail System

The Second Continental Congress established a national postal service and appointed Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General, creating the communication backbone the Revolution desperately needed. Franklin's postal routes connected the thirteen colonies into a functioning information network that carried military dispatches, newspapers, and political correspondence. The system he built evolved into the United States Postal Service, the nation's oldest continuously operating federal institution. The resolution passed on July 26, 1775, at a moment when reliable communication between the dispersed colonial governments was essential to coordinating the war effort. Franklin was the obvious choice for the position: he had served as joint deputy postmaster general for the British colonies since 1753 and knew the postal routes better than any man alive. The British had dismissed him from that position in 1774 after he leaked letters proving that the Massachusetts governor had urged the Crown to restrict colonial liberties. As Postmaster General, Franklin established a network of post offices and mail routes from Maine to Georgia, with riders carrying the mail on horseback along roads that were often little more than forest trails. He set standard postal rates and established the principle that newspapers should be carried at reduced rates, a policy that ensured the wide distribution of political information and contributed to the formation of an informed citizenry. The postal service generated revenue from its first year and operated without federal subsidy for most of its early history. Franklin served as Postmaster General until November 1776, when he was sent to France as the United States' ambassador. The institution he organized has operated continuously since 1775, predating the Constitution by over a decade.