Colonial period: 1775 – 1801
Introduction
In 1737, at the age of 31, Benjamin Franklin was appointed by the British Postal System as the Post Officer at Philadelphia, PA. Nearly 16 years later, in 1753, Franklin—now as Deputy Postmaster General—was tasked with regulating Post Offices and bringing the officers to account.(1) As he visited Post Offices and audited their accounts, Franklin set the precedent for periodic inspections that postal inspectors still carry out today. During these visits, Franklin also applied what we now recognize as his personal genius by making postal routes more efficient and creating better accounting methods. Franklin also established new Post Offices to keep pace with the growth of the colonies.
On July 26, 1775, almost a full year before adopting the Declaration of Independence, the colonial postal system became the Post Office of the United States, and Benajmin Franklin was appointed by the Second Continental Congress as the first Postmaster General.(2)
As commerce and communication flowed through the mail and the colonial postal system rapidly expanded, postal roads became more dangerous. On August 7, 1775, just weeks after his appointment, Franklin appointed Providence, RI, Postmaster William Goddard as the first “surveyor” of the new system.
William Goddard
The first surveyors were the forerunners of today’s postal inspectors. From the beginning, postal surveyors were required to investigate thefts of mail or postal funds. The early surveyors also continued the audit duties Franklin had first assigned himself. These audit functions continue today, though in 1996 the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General was established and assumed that responsibility from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Goddard’s time as surveyor was short lived. He had only served for a year when Franklin nominated his son-in-law, Richard Bache, as Postmaster General — a position Goddard had long desired.(3) Goddard resigned in protest, and Ebenezer Hazard was appointed as surveyor in 1776.
Ebenezer Hazard
During the turmoil of the American Revolution, Hazard inspected postal roads, hired post riders, investigated thefts, and audited Postmasters from Maine to Georgia, all while enduring the miseries of war. In October 1777, the First Continental Congress authorized the new Postmaster General, Richard Bache, to appoint two additional surveyors and establish an “Inspector of Dead Letters,” the duties of which were given to Hazard.(4)
In 1782, Congress appointed Ebenezer Hazard as Postmaster General, and he quickly set out to address the challenges of the postal system. On October 18, 1782, an ordinance was passed giving the legislative branch the right of establishing and regulating Post Offices throughout the United States.(5)
Hazard spent seven years as the Postmaster General and worked diligently to ensure surveyors had the necessary tools and funding to fully carry out their difficult but essential duties. Hazard left the position of Postmaster General in 1788, but his successors shared his devotion to and reliance on surveyors.
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Colonial period Beginnings
Ledger page from Benjamin Franklin’s General Post Office account book covering records and annual salaries of Franklin and John Foxtrot, Postmaster Generals of the colonies.
Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum
Benjamin Franklin portrait by Joseph Siffred Duplessis commissioned while Franklin was in Paris in 1779.
Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum
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William Goddard
Portrait of William Goddard, the first appointed surveyor of the postal roads.
Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum
Paycheck of William Goddard – August 7, 1775, record of the General Post Office shows an annual salary of $100.00 to William Goddard as Surveyor General of the post roads. This date marks the establishment of the Unite States Postal Inspection Service
Photo courtesy of the United States Postal Inspection Service Archives
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Ebenezer Hazard
Letter from Postmaster General Richard Bache requesting new Surveyors, due to higher demands from the growing country.
Photo courtesy of the National Archive and Records Administration RG28
Portrait of Ebenezer Hazard, the second appointed surveyor of the postal roads.
Photo source unknown
1781 letter sent from Postmaster General Ebenezer Hazard—who previously served as Surveyor General—to new Postmaster Dudley Woodbridge in Norwich, CT, outlining new postal rates. In one of its last legislative actions before being disbanded, the Second Continental Congress doubled postal rates on February 24, 1781, to cover operating costs for the mail system.
Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum
1791 Postal Route Map by Abraham Bradley, a lawyer and topographer from Connecticut who made his way into the postal system as a clerk. He devised the “Map of the United States, Exhibiting the Post Roads, the Situations, Connections, and Distances of the Post Offices” to help citizens of the newly formed United States understand the magnitude of the new nation.
Photo Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum