When did the U.S. government first issue postage stamps?

The United States government first issued postage stamps on July 1, 1847. These initial issues consisted of 5-cent and 10-cent denominations, which featured portraits of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, respectively.12

Prior to this introduction, the recipient of a letter was typically responsible for paying the postage rather than the sender. The 1847 issuance followed the global precedent set by England, which had introduced the first postage stamps for the prepayment of letter postage seven years earlier in 1840.12