A letter written in 1652, by Samuel Symonds of Ipswich,
to John Winthrop, Jr., at Pequot, says: “I cannot say but its
besides my intentions that I write not more frequently unto
you; I can onely plead this for my excuse (soe farr as it will
goe) ... and the uncertainty when and how to
convey letters.”[1]
A glance at the correspondence of that period shows that
Mr. Symonds was not the only one inconvenienced by the “uncertainty
when and how to convey letters.” With no domestic
postal service the writers of that day were dependent upon
individual bearers and pressed neighbors, relatives, merchants,
sea captains, any and every one whom they could
reach, into the service. Indians were often used as messengers.
Roger Williams writing to John Winthrop, at some
time in the ’30’s, speaks of word “by this bearer Wequash
whome (being a Pequt himselfe) I commended for a guide in
the Pequt expedition;” again, “I pray let your servant direct
the native with this letter;” and at still another time,
“From your owne hand (by Robin Causasenamont).”[2]
John Endicott writes to John Winthrop, April 13, 1638:
“Your kinde lines I receaued by Mascanomet;” and a letter
from the Isle of Wight (near Long Island), dated “Aprill 27,
1650,” says, “I resavid yours by the Indian.”[3]
Until 1639 there is no trace of a postal system, but under
the Massachusetts General Court Records, of that year[4] (Nov.
5th), is the following entry: “For preventing the miscarriage
of letters, ... It is ordered that notice bee given, that Richard
Fairbanks, his house in Boston, is the place appointed for
all letters, which are brought from beyond the Seas, or are to
be sent thither; ... are to be brought unto him and he is
to take care, that they bee delivered, or sent according to their
directions and hee is alowed for every such letter 1d. and
must answer all miscarriages through his owne neglect in
this kind; provided that no man shall bee compelled to bring
his letters thither except hee please.”
This action on the part of the Massachusetts General Court
was, as far as can be discovered, the first effort by the colonies
to provide a post office. Eighteen years later, June
12, 1657, an ordinance was passed[5] by the director general
and council of the New Netherlands, forbidding the boarding
of incoming vessels until visited by the governing officer and
the letters delivered, the penalty for evading the law being
fixed at thirty guilders.[6]
Since private shippers were in the habit of taking letters
from the New Netherlands and Curaçoa, without placing them
in a sealed bag, the directors of the West India Company, at
the chamber in Amsterdam, in 1659 (October 30) adopted a
resolution requiring captains of vessels to enter into bond not
to carry letters to Holland from New Netherlands or Curaçoa,
unless received from persons authorized to collect them, under
penalty of one hundred Carolus guilders; and on the second of
the following June (1660) the director general and council of
the colony passed an ordinance warning citizens to observe
this resolution. A box was placed in New Amsterdam, in
the office of the secretary of the province, for the receipt of
letters, and for all those capable of registry, three stivers
in wampum were to be paid. These movements on the part
of Massachusetts and New Netherlands concerned foreign
letters simply; until 1672 there were apparently no arrangements
for the transmission and delivery of domestic letters.
In December of that year, there was an effort to start a
monthly post between New York and Boston, a project originating
with Francis Lovelace, governor of New York. In a
letter to John Winthrop, governor of Connecticut, dated December
27, 1672, he says:[7] “I herewith present you with 2
rarities, a pacquett of the latest intelligence I could meet
withal, and a post ... by the latter you will meet
with a monthly fresh supply; so that if it receive but the
same ardent inclinations as first it hath from myself, by our
monthly advisers all publique occurences may be transmitted
between us, together with severall other great conveniencys
of publique importance, consonant to the commands laid upon
us by his sacred majestie, who strictly enjoins all his American
subjects to enter into a close correspondency with each
other ... this person that has undertaken the employment
I conceaved most proper, being voted active, stout and
indefatigable.... I have affixt an annuall sallery on him,
which, together with the advantage of his letters and other
small portable packes, may afford him a handsome livelyhood....
The maile has divers baggs, according to the towns
the letters are designed to, which are all sealed up ’till their
arrivement, with the seal of the secretarie’s office, whose care
it is on Saturday night to seale them up. Only by-letters are
in an open bag, to dispense by the wayes.... I shall only
beg of you your furtherance to so universall a good work;
that is, to afford him directions where, and to whom to make
his application to upon his arrival at Boston; as likewise to
afford him what letters you can to establish him in that employment
there. It would be much advantageous to our designe,
if in the intervall you discoursed with some of the most
able woodmen, to make out the best and most facile way for
a post, which in processe of tyme would be the king’s best
highway; as likewise passages and accommodation at rivers,
fords, or other necessary places.”
The first post messenger started from New York, January 22,
1672/3, with sworn instructions to behave civilly, to inquire of
Winthrop how to form the best post road, and to mark the
trees for the direction of passengers.
To quote from the Memorial History of New York:[8] “It is
recorded as creating great excitement in the little village of
Harlem, when that first postman drew up at the tavern door
to refresh himself, as he undoubtedly did, with some good
home-brewed Harlem beer—his ‘port mantles’ (port manteaux)
crammed with ‘letters and small portable goods,’
the ‘locked box’ in the office of the colonial secretary
accumulating the next month’s mail, and what he had brought,
being carried to the ‘coffee house’ to be ‘well thumbed’
until called for.” Notwithstanding this auspicious beginning,
the project fell through, probably because of the Dutch and
other wars of the time, and was not revived by this colony
until 1684, when Thomas Dongan, governor of New York, and
Thomas Treat, governor of Connecticut, conferred concerning
a post between New York and the British colonies as far
as Boston.[9]
In the meantime Massachusetts had taken up the question
again,[10] the general court on January 6, 1673/4, ordering that
post messengers, who had previously received no stated allowance,
should thereafter receive 3d. a mile in money and full
satisfaction for the expenses of man and beast.[11]
In 1677 (June 1), further action was taken, the general
court, in response to a petition of sundry merchants of Boston,[12]
appointing John Hayward, scrivener, to “take in and
convey letters according to the direction;” evidently there
was more than one candidate, and one account poetically
says of the court’s decision: “It Richard May suggested
John Hayward selected.” The same year (October 8, 1674),
the general court of Connecticut, meeting at Hartford,[13] gave
specific instructions regarding the allowance for post riders;
from Rye to Hartford, 12s. for the expenses of the horse, and
20s. for those of the man, with the addition of 8d. from the
“midle of October to the last of Aprill,” and the special
injunction that “hyred” horses should not be deprived of
their allowance. The number of routes mentioned, twenty-four,
shows the extent of the effort made at that time.
The next move came from New York, Gov. Dongan’s proposition
of 1684,[14] to which reference has already been made,
adding to Lovelace’s scheme of a post between New York and
Boston, the suggestion that post houses be established along
the coast from Carolina to Nova Scotia. A letter to him
from Sir John Werden (August 27, 1684), whose title to the
profits from the English post office[15] was held to include the
British provinces, approves the project and suggests that the
privilege be offered for three or five years by way of form,
with a reservation of not less than one-tenth of the profits to
the duke. Six months later (February 18, 1684/5), Dongan
writes[16] him that he had sent permission to set up a post
house but no power to do it, although the neighboring colonies
much desired it and in some places had established foot
and horse messengers. He adds, “I am going to Connecticut
to-morrow, to do all possible to settle a post office to
Pemaquid this spring and endeavor settlement of post house
at Boston.”
On his return from Connecticut (March 2, 1684/5), the governor
ordained in the New York council,[17] “That for the
better correspondence between the colonies of America, a
post office be established; and that the rates for riding post
be per mile three pence; for every single letter, not above
one hundred miles, three pence; if more, proportionably.”
A letter[18] from Sir Edmund Andros to John Allyn,
dated November 23, 1687, speaks of a contemplated post from
Boston to the farthest settlements of Connecticut, John
Perry to go between Hartford, Fairfield and Stamford once a
month in the winter, and every three weeks during the summer,
as Allyn suggests in his answer. A letter from Samuel
Sewall[19] to Samuel Mather, at Windsor, Connecticut, as early
as March 6, 1685/6[20], mentions John Perry as bearer and a postage
of 3d. That this project was carried out is evident from
the complaint brought before the council of New York[21] by
John Perry, that on his way to Boston he was laid hold on by
warrant from the usurper Leysler, brought to New York and
his letters opened, the apparent object being to destroy commerce
and trade.
June 11th, 1689, the Massachusetts general court[22] appointed
Richard Wilkins, postmaster, to receive all letters
and deliver them out at 1d. each.
In 1691/2, a new era opened for the colonial post office. On
February 7th, of that year, William and Mary, by letters
patent, granted[23] to “Thomas Neale, Esq., his executors,
administrators and assignes, full power and authority to erect,
settle and establish within the chief parts of their majesties’
colonies and plantations in America, an office or offices for
the receiving and dispatching letters and pacquets, and to
receive, send and deliver the same under such rates and sums
of money as the planters shall agree to give, and to hold and
enjoy the same for the terme of twenty-one years.”
To govern and manage the general post office,[24] Neale
appointed (April 4th, 1692) Andrew Hamilton, an Edinburgh
merchant, who in 1685 had emigrated to New Jersey, and
become special agent of the proprietors.
On the deposition of Andros in 1689, Hamilton embarked
for England to consult with the proprietors; on the voyage
was taken prisoner by the French, but soon released, and in
1692 was made governor of New Jersey. Hamilton’s application
to the colonial legislatures[25] to “ascertain and establish
such rates and terms as should tend to quicker maintenance
of mutual correspondence among all neighboring colonies and
plantations and that trade and commerce might be better preserved,”
met with a favorable response from the colonial governments.
He first presented the subject to Governor Fletcher and
the New York legislature.[26] The council, meeting at Fort
Wm. Henry, October 29, 1692,[27] after reading his proposition,
and also a letter from the queen to the governor, urging him
to assist Hamilton in settling the office, appointed Colonels
Courtlandt and Bayard a committee[28] to deliver the proposition
to the house of representatives, and in November (1692)
the bill was passed by both houses and signed by the governor.
The chief provisions of the bill are as follows:[29] A
general letter office was to be “erected and established in
some convenient place within the city of New York,” one
master of the general office to be appointed from time to time
by Hamilton, who with his servant or agent should have the
“receiving, taking up, ordering, dispatching, sending post or
with speed and delivery of all letters and pacquets whatsoever,
which shall from time to time be sent to and from all
and every of the adjacent collonies and plantations on the
main land and continent of America or any other of their
majesties kingdoms and dominions beyond the Seas.” The
postmaster was to “prepare and provide horses and furniture
unto all through posts and persons riding in post.” Rates
for single letters to or from Europe, the West Indies or elsewhere
to and from beyond the seas, were 9d., and the same
from Boston or Maryland to New York; from Virginia, 12d.,
and to or from any place not exceeding eighty miles from
New York, four pence half penny.
All postmasters were freed from excise and all public services,
with the exception of the postmaster of the city of New
York, who was exempt only from public services. Any persons
or “body politick or corporate others than the P. M.
Gen. aforesaid” presuming to “carry, recarry or deliver letters
for hire, other than as before excepted, or to set up or
imploy any foot-post, horse-post or pacquet boat whatsoever”
for the carrying of letters or pacquets, or providing “horses
and furniture for the horses of any through posts, or persons
riding post with a guide and horn,” should forfeit £100 current
money, one-half going to the governor and the other half
to the postmaster-general. All letters and pacquets brought
by ship or vessel were to be delivered to the postmaster of
New York or to his servants, provided “that no letters going
up or coming down Hudson’s river and going to or from Long
Island shall be carried to the post-office, everything herein
contained to the contrary notwithstanding,” this clause,
together with that regarding exemption from public service
and excise, being amendments by the council to the bill as
presented by the house.
The act was in force for three years,[30] and in 1695 (July 2d
and 3d) a bill was passed for continuing the act three years
longer, “every article,[31] rule and clause therein mentioned to
remain in full force and effect.”
In 1699 (May 5) the act was again continued,[32] this time for
two years, the new bill stating that “the advantage which the
inhabitants of this province daily have, the mutual correspondence
which they have with their neighboring collonies
and plantations and for the promoting of trade and wealth of
each other, encourage to the continuance of the same.”
In 1702[33] the act coming again before the Assembly and
Council was continued for four and one-half years from 1700;
and in 1705[34] (July 5, 6, 8 and 10, and August 14) it was re-continued
for three years from October, 1704.[35]
Concerning the passage of this act Lord Cornbury wrote
to the Lords of Trade that it was absolutely necessary; otherwise
the post to Boston and Philadelphia would be lost.[36]
At the meeting[37] of the first session of the eleventh Assembly
at Fort Anne, August 20, 1708, Governor Cornbury in
his opening speech said:[38] “I can’t omit putting you in
mind that Act for encouraging a Post Office is expired; that
it is of so general Advantage that I hope you will revive it.”
The next month (September 3, 7, 10, 13, and 18, 1708) the act
was considered and passed. At a meeting of the council in
New York,[39] June 21, 1709, one of the members was ordered
to go to the assembly and “desire them to provide for and
settle a Post from Albany to Westfield for holding a Correspondence
Between Boston and Albany for the service of the
present Expedition the Province of Massachusetts Bay having
already settled a Post from Boston to Westfield;” but
action was not taken before 1715.
The letters of this period throw light upon the condition of
the post with regard to regularity and frequency.
The Earl of Bellomont writing from New York[40] to Secretary
Popple in London, May 25, 1698, says: “The sure way
of conveying letters to me is by way of Boston, whence the
post comes every week to this place;” and Lord Cornbury
writes to the Lords of Trade,[41] December 12, 1702: “But I
entreat your Lordspps to consider that but few ships goe directly
from this port to England, So that I must depend upon
the Boston and Philadelphia posts for conveying my letters
to such ships as may be going to England; and sometimes
both these Conveyances faile;” and again in a letter to the
Lords of Trade, June 30, 1704:[42] “I beg your Lordspps to consider
likewise the difficulty I lye under, with respect to opportunity’s
of writing into England, which is thus—The post
that goes through this place goes Eastward as far as Boston,
but Westward he goes no further than Philadelphia and there
is no other post upon all this Continent, so that I have any
letters to send to Virginia or to Maryland I must either send
an Express who is often retarded for want of boats to cross
those great rivers they must go over or else for want of
horses, or else I must send them by some passengers who are
going thither. The least I have known any Express take to
go from hence to Virginia, has been three weeks, so that very
often, before I can hear from Coll: Nicholson what time the
fleet will sail and send my packets, the fleet is sailed. I hope
we shall find a way to remedy that shortly, for Coll: Nicholson
and Coll: Seymour have wrote me word that they will be here
in September, and I do then intend to propose to them the
settling of a Post, to go through to Virginia....
I must further acquaint Your Lordspps that our letters do not
come safe by the way of Boston, I have had several letters by
that way which have been broken open.”
Cornbury’s scheme, as he tells us in another letter to the
Lords of Trade, written November 6, 1704,[43] was to lay a tax
in each province by act of assembly, for defraying the
charges of the post, which might then have gone from Boston
to North Carolina, but his failure to meet the men with whom
he proposed to discuss it, thwarted the plan.
June 9, 1693, Massachusetts passed in council[44] an act
for encouraging the post office, selecting Boston as the place
for the general letter office, the master to be appointed by
Hamilton. Rates to Europe or to any place beyond the seas,
were fixed at 2d., to different places within the colonies, they
varied according to distance; from Boston to Rhode Island
they were 6d., to the Connecticut colonies 9d., to New York
12d., to Eastern Pennsylvania or to Western Jersey 15d., and to
Maryland or to Virginia 2s. A fine of 40s. in the current money
of the colony, was imposed upon those who carried or delivered
letters without authority, one-half the fine recurring to
their majesties for the support of the government of the
province, and one-half to the postmaster-general for suing
and prosecuting for same. Non-delivery or neglect of maintaining
a constant post was fined 5s., one-half going to their
majesties and one-half to the party aggrieved; the ferryman
“neglecting, refusing or delaying conveyance,” also forfeited
5s. The postmaster was to pay the shipmaster one-half
penny for each letter or pacquet brought, but all letters of
public concern for their majesties’ service were to be free of
charge.
That the first few years of the post in Massachusetts were
not very lucrative, is shown by the numerous complaints of
grievances and petitions of Duncan Campbell, appointed by
Hamilton deputy postmaster.[45] The charges are thrice the
income, he complains, and begs that a salary be given, urging
the example of the governor and assembly of New York in
voting £50 per annum for the support of the office in that
province. This petition meeting with no response, he asked
for freedom from public rates, taxes and excise for retailing
strong drink, and in 1694 (June 20) obtained a grant of £25
per annum from the public treasury of the province for two
years. In 1696 (May 27) he petitioned for a renewal of the
act encouraging a post office and also for a continuation of
the postmaster’s salary. The salary was voted (July 1, 1696),
but no steps taken toward reviving the Post Office Act, for
in 1703 (May 26) John Campbell[46] renewed the petition to
the general court stating that the act had not been in force
after 1696, and praying that since Hamilton was out of purse
to the extent of £1,400 restitution might be made by a continuance
of the privilege to his heirs.[47] The same petition was
presented to Governor Joseph Dudley and to the council and
representatives in General Assembly two months later (June
3, 1703), but with no result as far as renewal was concerned.
Five years later (Nov. 3, 1708), a committee was appointed
to inquire what allowance should be made for encouraging
the post office, but up to the time of Queen Anne’s Act in
1710 no decision had been reached.
Campbell’s memorandum of 1703 (July 19) is interesting as
showing the cost of maintaining the office between Philadelphia
and Piscataqua. The annual outlay was £680, and the
receipts little more than £400, leaving a deficit of £275.
The Campbells had other grievances.[48] In a petition to the
governor, the council and the assembly, soon after the act of
1693, Duncan begged that a fine be imposed for failure to
deliver letters from ships to the postmaster. In 1694 the
request was repeated, and in answer to this petition a bill
was presented ordering all persons not bringing letters which
ought to be delivered into the post office, to pay four times
as much as was due on the letters, damages to be made good
to the party injured. The house voted in the affirmative
May 8, 1694/5, but the council seems to have taken no action
in the matter. In 1696 (May 27) Campbell sent a similar
petition, asking also that the rates on foreign letters might be
advanced from two to three pence, and the payment to masters
of ships from an half penny to 1d., “which,” he adds,
“will be a great encouragement to masters not to deliver
news to other persons.”
In 1703, John Campbell offered a memorial to the general
court, complaining “that every body carrying of letters to
and from towns where post offices are settled, is a very great
hindrance and discouragement to said office,” letters from
Connecticut colony being carried to Piscataqua, and after
lying in the office there some weeks and months, at last come
to Boston, the office being blamed for the delay without a
cause, and that one-half the letters from Europe and West
Indies and other places by sea, were not brought to the
office at all. The ferrymen also came in for their share of
blame, as being very backward in carrying those employed in
the post office, sometimes even demanding money for ferriage.
The petition was granted (July 22, 1703), and £20 for
the year past and £40 for the one ensuing allowed to Campbell.
Again in 1706 (April 12 and October 30) £50 was
granted to him. In 1709 (November 18) he wrote to the
Governor that six months after his appointment by Hamilton
in 1701, he had represented to the General Assembly that he
could not serve, since the salary was so small, and two members
of the upper house had then suggested a salary of £40,
which, reduced by the vote of the lower house to £20, had
been paid until within three years. He recalled the fact that
the post office saved the country above £150 per annum,
which it would be obliged to pay for express, if there were no
office. The public letters, passed free, had cost more than
the postmaster’s allowance, besides the charge of sending
the governor’s letters weekly to Roxbury “in times of snow
or rain.” The queen, unwilling to augment the charge of the
office to what it was in Hamilton’s time, was then at above
£200 sterling charges yearly, to support it between New
Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and if the several offices had
half salary allowed them, it would cost her majesty £100
sterling more. Accordingly he thought it but just that public
letters for the time past should be paid for, the postmaster
recompensed for sending the governor’s letters to Roxbury,
and some provision made for conveying them in the future.
Otherwise, he would be obliged to represent the case to the
postmaster-general of Great Britain, which he had foreborne
to do, hoping that the general court would prevent it.
The council took no cognizance of the petition, as we learn
from its renewal in 1711.[49]
The action of New Hampshire relative to a post, occurred
at about the same time as that of Massachusetts. John
Usher,[50] writing to the New Hampshire council, from Boston,
March 25, 1693, said that the postmaster-general in Boston
was desirous of knowing what salary would be allowed
or how much a letter for a post from Piscataqua to Boston,
adding that it might be an advantage to gain news from England
and the West Indies, and that they would like a post
weekly or once in two weeks. The council (March 27, 1693)
was of the opinion[51] that a post was necessary, and that there
should be an allowance per letter, according to other places
in like circumstances, proportionate to the distance from
Boston, “Every one to pay for his own Lettr.” A record[52]
in the “Journal of the Council and Assembly” of July 29,
1693, says: “Maj. Vaughan and Mr. Waldron were appointed
to prepare and drawe up a Bill for settling a Post Office in
this Province,” and on the fourth of August the council concurred
with the bill which had been passed by the lower
house.
It was enacted that[53] “a Poste Office and officers be henceforth
appointed and settled in some Convenient place within
the Towne of Portsmouth for Receiveing & dispatching
awaye according to direction all letters and packetts that
shall be brought thereinto & no Person or Persons whatsoever
shall presume to Carry or recarry any letter or letters for
hire but only such as belongs to the Poste Office dureing their
power and authority from the aforesaid Thos. Nele Except
such letters of Merchants and Masters which shall be sent
by any Master of any Ship Boat or other vessel of Merchandise
or by any other Person employed by them for the carrying
of such letters aforesaid According to the Respective
Direction And also Except letters to be sent by any private
friend or friends in their way of Journey or Travill or by any
Messenger or Messengers sent on purpose for or concerning
the private affaires of any Person or Persons.” Whoever offended
against this Act should “forfeit the sum of ten pounds
one halfe to their Majesties Towards the support of the
Governor of this province The other halfe to the Postmaster
Genrl.” All “Letters & Packetts” were to be delivered
by the importer at the post house or to the post officer, receiving
in return a half-penny for each, the person to whom directed
paying two pence for each letter, and for a “Packett
no lesse than 3 letters besides Bills Loading Invoyces Gazette
etc four pence. And for each letter brought from
Boston in to this Province not exceeding five pence and
Doble for a Packett and so proportionately for Letters on this
sid Boston shall be paid with the customary allowance in the
Government from whense they come.” Neglect of duty in
keeping constant post or in delivering letters was punishable
by a fine of £5, “The one halfe to their Majesties the other
halfe to the party agreved.” All letters concerning their
majesties’ service were to be received and dispatched with all
possible speed free from charge. It was “further enacted and
ordained that the officer of the Post House haveing Licence
granted to Retaile Beer Sider & Ale within Doors according
to Law shall have his Excise free and no officer of the Excise
shall demand anything of him for the same and his Person to
be excused from watching and warding.” The foregoing
Act was to continue in force for three years from the publication,
but in 1694 (May 12th), an additional act for the
encouragement of the post office was passed,[54] since “notwithstanding
a late act for the Setling a Poste Office within
this Province Sundrie Letters are brought by ships and other
vessell a longe shore to the Prejudice of those who are at the
charge of keeping a poste goeing once a week by land.” It was
“Enacted by the Liet. Governor Counsill & Representatives
convened in Genl. Assembly” that thereafter all masters of
sloops or other vessels arriving within the Province should
deliver all letters brought in by them, except such as concerned
the loading of their vessels, to the collector or other
post officer to be carried “with all convenient speed” to the
post house.
The next year (May 21, 1695), a petition from Campbell for
encouraging the post office, was answered by a bill settling
a salary of £12 for the ensuing year.[55] In 1698[56] (April 7th)
another petition from Campbell for continuing the support
of the post office was read in the council and sent to the
assembly, but returned without their allowing anything. July
2d, 1703, a committee of both houses was appointed to consider
the petition of John Campbell, Duncan’s successor, and
in February (8th), 1703/4, £21 4s. was voted.
A year later[57] (May 3d, 1705) the council and General Assembly
voted to pay £6 out of the next provincial rate, to
Campbell for his “extraordinary Service in forwarding his
Excellency’s and Government letters for her Majesty’s service
relating to this province;” again in 1707 (April 8th) he
was granted[58] £6 out of the treasury, and in 1708 (May 6th)
another £6 for “diligent care of expresses and letters.”
The first entry in the Colonial Records of Rhode Island[59]
regarding a post is in 1774.
Connecticut’s earliest efforts toward the establishment of a
post have already been mentioned in connection with New
York and Massachusetts. On May 10th, 1694, the court of
election at Hartford passed the following Act for the encouragement
of a post office.[60]
“Whereas their most excelent Maties King Wm and Queen
Mary by their letters pattents have granted a Post Office to
be set up in these partes of N. E. for the receiving and disspatching
of letters and pacquetts from one place to another
for their Maties speciall service and the benefit of theire Maties
good Subjects in these parts. This court being willing to
encourage so good a worke, doe order and enact that all such
persons as shall be imployed by the Post Master Gen. in the
severall stages within this Colony of Connecticut shall and
may pass and repasse all and every ferry within this Colony,
from the day of the date hereof for and during this courts
pleasure, without payeing any rate or sume of money either
for his own or horses passage.”
May, 1698,[61] in response to a complaint that posts and other
travellers met with great difficulty in journeying through
the colony, especially in the township of Stonington, the
court ordered the selectmen to lay out convenient highways,
kept cleared and open, unless they passed through
ancient common fields, or the general or county court ordered
otherwise, and “made good with sufficient causeis and
bridges as need shall require,” failure to observe these instructions
to be punished by a fine of £10 into the public
treasury, and for a continuance of the offence by an annual
fine of £10 to be levied upon the selectment or inhabitants.
In May, 1704,[62] the general court decreed that since the
post was often impeded, “in cases extraordinarie the authoritie
may grant a bill to the Constables for the defraying
of such charges as are really necessary.”
Watson,[63] in his Annals of Philadelphia, bases on MSS.
in the possession of the Pemberton family, his statement that
as early as July, 1683, a weekly post was established by order
of William Penn and a grant given to a certain Henry Waldy
of Tekonay to hold one, and “supply passengers with horses
from Philadelphia to New Castle or the Falls of the Delaware;
the rates from the Falls to Philadelphia 3d., to Chester
5d., to New Castle 7d., to Maryland 9d., and from Philadelphia
to Chester 2d., to New Castle 4d., to Maryland 6d..” Winsor,
in the Narrative and Critical History, adds that the notices of
the departure of the post were put on the meeting-house
doors and in other public places.
The same year (1683)[64] a law was passed at Philadelphia
directing the way in which official letters should be dispatched,
in order that the governor might obtain “true and
speedy information regarding public affairs, as well from
Europe as the neighboring colonies and remote parts of this
province and territories thereof.” “Be it Enacted by
the authority aforesaid, That every Justice of the Peace,
Sheriff or Constable within the respective counties of this
province and territories thereof, to whose hands or knowledge
any Letter or Letters shall come, directed to or from the
governor, shall dispatch them, within 3 hours at the farthest,
after the receipt or knowledge thereof, to the next Sheriff or
Constable, and so forwards, as the Letter directs, upon the
penalty of 20s. for every hour’s delay. And in such cases,
all Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs or Constables are hereby
empowered to press either man or horse for that service, allowing
for a horse or man, 2 pence by the mile, to be paid out
of the public stock.”
September 5th, 1700, Penn writes to Logan that he sends a
package for Governor Blackeston[65] to be forwarded to the
sheriff of New Castle, showing that the custom was in vogue
seventeen years after its origin.
The Duke of Yorke’s Laws[66] under the laws made and
passed by Benjamin Fletcher, governor of Pennsylvania, and
the council and representatives, May 15th and June 1st, 1693,
records one for the erection of a post office in Philadelphia
by Andrew Hamilton, “from whence all letters & packets
may be with all expedition sent into any of the parts of New
England and other adjacent colonies in these parts of
America, at which said office all returns and answers may be
received.” Andrew Hamilton, or some other postmaster-general
appointed by the king, was to demand and receive
postage according to the following rates: single foreign letters
2d., and each packet 4d.; letters sent from Philadelphia
to New York 4d. half penny, to Connecticut 9d., to Rhode
Island 12d., to Boston 15d., to points beyond Boston 19d., to
Maryland and Virginia 9d., and to every place within eighty
miles of Philadelphia 4d. half penny. If foreign letters were
left forty-eight hours uncalled for, they were to be delivered
and one penny more for each demanded from receiver. Public
letters were to go post free; ferriage was to be free for all,
and constant posts were to be maintained from Philadelphia
to New York and New Castle.
At an assembly held at Philadelphia,[67] May 20th, 1697,
Joseph Growden, “chairman of the grand comittee appointed
to consider of Andrew Hamilton’s memorial for encouragement
to support the post,” reported “that it was the vote of
the comittee that a bill be prepared for encouragement to
support the post both by the publick and upon private
letters.”
Since the charge of the office had much exceeded the postage,[68]
the assembly, “being sensible of the benefit of the said
office to trade and commerce, and to the province and territories
in general if it be continued, and of the great loss that
will happen to both if it should happen to fall for want of encouragement,”
it was voted that the rates be raised on foreign
letters received from 2d. to 4d., on those sent from Philadelphia
to New York from 4½d. to 8d., and other rates proportionately.
Hamilton was to receive £20 in the silver money of
the province from the public treasury annually for three years,
the period during which the law was to be in force.
In 1700, a bill was passed to be in effect seven years,
which says:[69]
“Considering that maintenance of speedy correspondence
is good for trade and is best carried on by public post, Be it
enacted, that there be a General Letter Office erected
and established in Philadelphia to send letters to colonies
planted in America or in any of the King’s Kingdoms in
foreign lands.” Rates were regulated by bulk, as well as by
distance, a sheet of paper being accounted as a single letter
and a packet equal to three letters, at the least; the post of a
single letter from Philadelphia to Boston or Rhode Island was
18d., to Piscataqua and other parts east of Boston 2s., to
New York 8d., to Maryland and Virginia 18d. if by post, if
by private person to the office 4d., all letters for the proprietary
or for the governor to be free. The fine for a neglectful
ferryman was £5, for any one who should presume to
carry letters for hire or set up or employ any post, £40.
“Whereas, letters to merchants were often delayed and
given to untrustworthy persons who may open them and get
trade secrets,” shipmasters were ordered to give letters only
to the postmaster or to his assistants.
In 1701 (June 23d), in response to a petition from Patrick
Robinson in behalf of Col. Andrew Hamilton, “Postmaster
General in America and Govr of the Jerseys,” praying for
the payment from the “publick stock” of the £20 per year
for three years, which had been allowed him by the act of
1697, the treasurer was ordered to pay the sum as soon as
there was sufficient money in his hands.
April 11th, 1706,[70] a grant was given a certain Hugh Huddy
to establish stages from Burlington to Perth Amboy, and
April 4th, 1709, an act for the encouragement of the post
office was passed by the New Jersey assembly. The masters
of the offices were to be appointed from time to time by the
postmaster-general. No other persons were to receive, dispatch
or deliver letters or packets except such as were sent
by masters or merchants in ships of which, or of the cargo of
which, they were entirely or in part owners, or “except letters
to be sent by any private Friend or Friends in their ways of
journey or Travel, or by any Messenger or Messengers sent of
purpose for or concerning the private affairs of any person or
persons.”[71] The rates were fixed according to bulk as well as
distance, the post of every single letter from Europe, the
West Indies and other parts beyond the seas, was four pence
half-penny, all letters to be accounted single if they did not
exceed one sheet of paper. The postage on each “pacquet”
of letters from these places was 9d. a “pacquet” being accounted
three sheets, at the least. The post of every letter
from Boston not exceeding one sheet of paper, was 1s. 3d.,
the post of every letter not exceeding two sheets, 2s. 6d., and
the post of every “pacquet of letters or other things whatsoever,
2s. 6d. for every ounce, Troy weight, and for the post
of every letter not exceeding one sheet of paper, for any
place not exceeding one hundred and fifty miles, 9d., and so
in proportion to the bulk.” Carrying letters for hire, or
setting up or employing any foot, post, horse or paquet boat
for carrying letters or paquets or providing and maintaining
horses or furniture for the horsing of any through post, was
punishable by a fine of £100 current money for every several
offence, one-third to go to the governor, one-third to the use
of the colony and the remaining third to the informer.
Any ferryman neglecting, delaying or refusing to convey
posts forfeited £5.
As late as 1791 there were only six post offices in the
colony, and none south of Trenton.[72]
The Maryland archives contain no reference to a post before
1710.
In March, 1661/2, the following act[73] was passed by the Virginia
assembly: “Whereas the remotenesse of diverse places
in the country from James Citty and the necessity of communicating
diverse businesses to the utmost lymitts of itt,
would (if messengers were purposely prest) put the country
to an annuall greate expense for prevention whereof, Be it
enacted that all letters superscribed for the service of his
Majesty or publique shall be imediately conveyed from plantation
to plantation to the place and person they are directed
to under the penalty of 350 pounds of tobacco to each defaulter.”
March 2d, 1692/3,[74] an act was passed for encouraging the
erection of a post office in each county of the colony, Thomas
Neale and his deputies to settle and establish the post at their
own cost. Rates were to vary according to bulk and distance,
state letters and public orders of the governor and council
were to be sent free, and merchants were not to be prohibited
from sending letters by the masters of vessels or
others. The act was to be in force during the term granted
by their majesties’ letters patent to Thomas Neale.
Cooper’s Statutes at Large of South Carolina[75] records an
enactment regarding the post, of September 10th, 1702, by
John Grenville, Esq., Pallatine, and the other lords and proprietors
of the province of Carolina with the consent of the
other members of the General Assembly. A certain Ed.
Bourne was appointed postmaster and ordered to fix an exact
list of letters received and dispatched in some public place in
his house for thirty days, for each packet or letter receiving
one-half royal, and for any neglect of duty forfeiting 40s.
July 12th, 1707, an act[76] to erect a general post office was
ratified and continued for two years.
The first act regarding a post office in North Carolina was
in 1787.[77]
The correspondence of the period shows when the post became
an established fact. About 1700, letters begin not with
the names of the bearers, but with expressions such as the
following: “The post is just blowing his horn and cannot
help it that I write no more particularly.”[78] “I had not time
to say more by the last post than I did.” “Sent by post last
week.” “Having no letter from you by the post.” Individual
bearers were still made use of, often probably for the
reason which Logan gives in a letter to Penn, written February,
1708.[79] “I send this chiefly to accompany the enclosed
to Wm. Aubrey, I therefore request thee to peruse it ...
and to let it be sealed up, directed in some hand like mine,
as J. Jeffreys, and delivered. I send it thus without cover to
save postage, which is now very high to Boston.” It is to be
hoped that Lovelace’s description of the first post as “active,
stout and indefatigable,” would apply equally to his successors,
for they too went laden with “letters, portable goods
and divers bags.” Wait Winthrop writes from Boston to
Fitz-John Winthrop, “Govr of his Majts Collonye of Conecticott
in New London,” “I have had yours by the post with
little bundle;” “If Sudance can bundle up John’s freise Jacket
& Mingoe’s cloth Jacket in an old towell pray let the post
bring them.” “Post will bring you a pair of Simpsons ...
could not goe to direct the man about the glass, or els it
had gone by this Post” and “If Anthony has lamed the
horses he may dispatch them quite that they may be no further
trouble; but if their legs are fit to bring them, I desire
they may be sent by the post, unless some safer opportunity
present in two or three days.”[80]
The early history of the colonial post office ends in 1710.
With Queen Anne’s Act of that year a new era began, introducing
a system of greater uniformity, of greater detail and
of closer connection with the home government.
Mary E. Woolley.