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The social and political effects of the early postal systemsFirstly, let me point out at once that I am not a historian. I am a scientist, a mathematician, a christian, and I have a good idea that there is a lot of things which happened before I came on the scene: but I don't even have a CSE in history (she says, showing her age). Secondly, this is a work in progress. I have found certain sources which I want to check out, and will be adding in what I find out from those when I get them, however I feel that this is too interesting a topic to wait before I start to put my thoughts down, and so I am starting this now, with the full intention of completing it at some later date. No doubt when I do finish this, I will remove this paragraph. To make things easier for people who want just to see the updates, I will note when I make the updates on the T182 home page of my web site, and will mark the updates in some way in here (probably italics). The title of this is rather ambitious. How did the early postal systems affect the social and political structures of the day, and were there any established groups who either championed or opposed these changes? It is ambitious for two reasons. History rarely reveals failures, and it is invariable written by the victor. Below I show some examples of how either the postal system of the day caused social or political changes; or how the established social or political structures affected the postal system. These are organised by country; with the UK appearing first followed by other countries, and by period. Our modern British postal system finds its roots in the royal couriers. Kings and princes used to keep a stable of couriers on hand to ensure swift delivery of their dispatches. The efficiency and security of this system was widely envied, and even though they occasionaly carried private mail, the rulers were reluctant to open access to them, for fear of disrupting urgent messages1. In Victorian times, there was a wide variety of innovations which were based on the postal system. Most people will be aware that it was the Victorians who first brought in Christmas cards, but they also started a trade in writing "implements, ... decorated envelopes, pretty ink wells, paper knives, and stamp boxes"2. In the late 19th century, there was a campaign to introduce an overseas postal service. This met with resistance from the established GPO, as it would require significant investment on their part, with no guaranteed return. Howerver, their hands were tipped when Canada introduced a regular postal service to Britian in 1898, and by 1908 a penny post to America was introduced3. In the United States, the postal system was set up by the British when The British Post Office Act of 1710, took effect on June 1, 17114. The British governers used this post system as part of their control over, as they saw it, the wayward colonists. In 1737, the British Crown named Benjamin Franklin as postmaster of Philidelphia, only to dismiss him in 1774 due to his revolutionary activities5. The Pennsylvania Chronical, a pro-revolutionary paper, was put out of business by the local Crown postmaster, firstly by his failure to deliver out-of-town newspapers to the Chronical's publisher, and secondly by his refusal to allow the Chronical to be mailed6. In later years, after the War of Independance, newspaper printers actively sought the role of postmaster, which put them in the position where they could refuse to send competitors products, as well as obtaining news faster7. The postal system also played a major role in the social upheval surrounding the American Civil War. In 1835, a group of abolutionists used the US mail to send out 175,000 separate tracts. This lead to a Charleston vigilante socitey, the Lynch Men, to break into a post office to destroy the abolutionists material before it was delivered8. In the early years of post in the United States, there were both private and public post companies. The government run Postal Service would only deliver to a given post office, however in Boston there were over 100 private express companies, who delivered directly to adressees' homes9. In fact, probably the best known US express delivery system, the Pony Express, was not provided by the US Post Service, but a private effort organised by William H Russell and his partners10. This was despite the fact that it was illegal for private companies to carry mail. As it is now 11:49pm, I'm going to bed at this point. I do promise to update this page at a later date, so please check on the T182 page for updates. Footnotes
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