Today in HistoryâJuly 26: The USPSâs Revolutionary Origins
The âshot heard âround the worldâ was fired on April 19, 1775.
On May 10, the same day the Second Continental Congress convened at the Pennsylvania State House, American troops captured a key British stronghold in New York, boosting Revolutionary morale.
On June 15 Congress appointed George Washington commander of the Continental Army.
The next priority? Making sure people could get their mail.
It sounds mundane, but secure, reliable communication was vital to the war effort. Under British rule, mail wasnât private; postmasters could open letters to spy on colonists. Frustrated by that practice and by the British post being another form of taxation without representation, William Goddard, Benjamin Franklinâs former publishing partner, created in 1774 an independent mail system with trusted riders who transported mail under lock and key. The network, which came to be called the Constitutional Post, quickly gained support.
When the First Continental Congress met later that year, Goddard urged it to adopt his system. Although it declined, he remained committed, and by the following year the network had grown to about 50 offices from Virginia to Maineâprompting Congress to reconsider.
On this day in 1775, Congress adopted Goddardâs system and appointed Franklin postmaster general. Already famous as a writer, inventor, printer, and civic leader, Franklin also brought decades of postal experience, having modernized the colonial mail system by surveying roads, placing milestones, and introducing overnight riders (before the British dismissed him for his pro-American views). Goddard, meanwhile, became surveyor.
Before the mid-19th century, most Americans paid postage when they received a letterânot when they sent it.
Because Franklin remained in office until November 1776, after the Declaration of Independence, he is recognized as the first U.S. postmaster general. Under his leadership, the postal system proved indispensable during the Revolution, carrying military intelligence and news across the colonies. Though exempt from military service, postmasters and riders still faced danger, sometimes being captured as prisoners of war.
And so the U.S. Postal Service was born, not from routine bureaucracy but from the demands of revolution, with roots in secure communication, espionage, and the countryâs founding.
- 76,945: U.S. post offices in 1901, the most in the countryâs history
- ~108.7 billion: Pieces of mail handled by the USPS in 2025
- Article 1, Section 8: Constitutional clause empowering Congress to establish post offices and roads
- 1948: U.S. Pres. Harry Truman bans racial segregation in the armed forces
- 1951: Disneyâs animated Alice in Wonderland premieres in London
- 1971: NASA launches Apollo 15, the first Moon mission to use a lunar rover
- 1999: Pakistan and Indiaâs Kargil War ends
