The Postal System During The 19th Century

Business growth on both sides of the country was expedited by a new form of cheap distribution into profitable, expanding markets. Easy transportation facilitated the concept of business travel and expansion on an unprecedented scale. However, some of the largest impacts of the Transcontinental Railroad can be seen through the cross­country exchange of ideas. Before the railroad existed, the only fast exchange of information was written through the pony express. The Transcontinental Railroad created an outlet of communicating new ideas and information in person. A smooth and swift cross­country exchange of people and ideas not only made America more infrastructurally sophisticated ­­ it acted as a foundation for the Western United States to grow from very little to the political, social, economic, and technological center that it is today.

President Jackson further strengthened the executive branch by utilizing the spoils system, a system in which a president rewards political supporters with public office. Instead of selecting individuals who were truly qualified for the job, Jackson elected his loyal, democratic followers, claiming the reason for the new appointments was to end entrenchment and transfer the power to the people. In reality, by selecting supporters, Jackson would have the ability to easily control the government. His appointment of Roger B. Taney to be Secretary of Treasury was done with the sole purpose to kill the second Bank of the United States. The bank favored the elite, and by killing it, Jackson hoped he would win over the country’s common man.

The Stamp Act was passed on March 22, 1765. It would take effect on November 1st of the same year. This act was used to pay a tax on basically every piece of paper. The people that it affected were the colonists. It was stated in the act that the admiralty courts would have jurisdiction over the offenders. This was viewed as an attempt to lessen the power of the colonial courts (SFI one, About Education). The act was also created to take money directly from the colonists because of the British being in debt from war.

in the 1800s was the expansion of the west. Since the start of ideas like Manifest Destiny, it has always been a common belief that transportation was the best way to stay connected to the rest of the country. At first roads were used for this job, with one of the most famous being the National Road which connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a total length of 620 miles. After

The market and transportation revolution in the 19th century, subsequently caused huge changes in the economic, social, and independent markets in the United states. The market revolution boom, largely attributable to better technologies, excelling the growth of factories and mass productions. The transportation revolution was a byproduct of the expanding of railroads, canals, and shipping of the products. Of which opened an entirely new way to sell and purchase products, crops, and other goods with more than just small town communities.

According to a Case Study-United States Postal Service (Jan 06, 2010), retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/bakeursilly/usps; since 1175 when Benjamin Franklin was appointed as the first postmaster general of the United States, the agency known as the United States Postal Service (USPS) has grown to become an institution that delivers about half of the world’s mail in snow, rain, and the dark of the night. Employing about 656,000 workers and 218,684 vehicles, 36,496 total retail and delivery facilities nationwide, 599 processing facilities, 584 million pieces is the average volume per day, and a total work hour of 1,258,025 per year delivering over 200 billion items per year via air and highway.

For one it helped the farther states to keep in contact with the West, news of what was happening and or important documents were being sent to different states to keep them update, and it helped for new and better ideas of how could the spreading of news could be spread faster and safer.

Before railroads, cities were normally built on coasts or rivers, because the most effective way to ship goods was by boat. Traveling on land required horses and wagons, that mean it took extremely long time and had very low capacity. This meant that people could not transport fresh goods nor big loads of foods more than a few miles. Many people settled nearby rivers and coasts, so that they can receive goods they needed, or they could ship anything they produced. By 1828, the nation's first commercial railroad began, 32 years later the railroad network had grown to 30,000 miles long. It offered fast, reliable, had massive capacity, and made inland trade possible. Then cities began to emerge along the railroad lines, and big numbers of people began to move to these new cities for profit and new opportunities west of the Mississippi River. During the same time, the telegraph made it possible for much smoother communication throughout the nation. Using Morse code, a method of transmitting messages could be sent over electric wires, with each letter and number represented by its own pattern of electrical pulses. Initially, the telegraph was a service meant for businesses, and especially newspapers, rather than personals. It help speed the flow of information and brought uniformity to prices throughout the

A half-cent stamp, the first half-cent stamp in U.S. history, was required by new postal rates established in 1925. Hale was selected to appear on that stamp by Postmaster General Harry New. Since no images of Hale are known, the stamp's designer, Clair Aubrey Huston, based his work on a photograph of a clay model of a statue of Hale located on the campus of Yale University.

The following is a description of the spoils system according to Sherman Hollar editor of the book Pivotal Presidents: Andrew Jackson, “This is the practice of discharging members of the defeated political party from public office and replacing them with members of the winning party.” Andrew Jackson believed that federal employees were not obligated to hold their job for life and he replaced many government job holders with people who supported him. The spoils system is corrupt and often leads to unworthy men and women holding jobs not based on their qualifications or ability to do the job but however on the party in powers needs. Andrew Jackson was charged of abusing the spoils system because he removed about 20% of federal employees during his reign as president. 920 of these federal employees lost their jobs within the first eighteen months of his presidency. He claimed replacing these highly qualified individuals was making the government more democratic, however in actuality he did not care about democracy but getting his way and making sure his supporters were rewarded and his party had ultimate power. The Civil Service Act was passed by Congress in 1883 to help curb the unfairness that is the spoils

Roads brought many dangers to the stagecoach travelers. Not only did they have to bear the unpleasant whirlwinds of dust that were roads in the summer, and the mud pits they were in the winter, but they also had to worry about tree-strew roads, rickety bridges, carriage overturns, and runaway horse. Despite this danger, people had still travelled and taverns began to spring up all main routes of travel. These taverns provided a place to rest from travelling the worrisome trip as provide luxuries such as bowling, billiards, and bars. Finally, the mail system became a consequence of the new road system connecting the major cities in the mid-1700’s but service was slow and privacy was not present as mail carriers would pass time by reading the letters and parcels they were entrusted

Before the Pendleton Act was passed, the government operated the spoils system. Under the Spoils System, presidents were free to fill government positions with their supporters and friends.

At the peak of expansion in the 1800’s, communication between the east and west was at the forefront of importance. A document from the State of Pennsylvania regarding railways in 1825 remarked that there is extreme “importance and necessity of effecting a communication between the eastern and western divisions of the commonwealth” (Wade, 5). The appearance of the railroads in the early 19th century decreased and nearly diminished the communication gap as it provided a reliable and speedy method of communication. As the railroads became more prominent across the United States, the western states naturally became linked to the Midwestern and eastern states through the Union Pacific Railroad. This railroad running from the east coast to the west coast opened up new doors in trans-continental communication. Businesses between the east and the west were able to communicate more effectively, and thus, trans-continental trade became more defined throughout the United States. The mail services began using railroads as well, which was a large factor in improving communication across the US. Trans-continental communication was broadened simply by the increased number of people traveling across the country. And, even when the railroads seemed an impractical method of transportation, “they might make possible long

It fascinates me how the human mind has developed from the beginning of time, till now. I mean technology itself has transformed the word. New inventions are created each day, improving machines, and almost everything. Throughout history people have created things that have made life easier. Transportation has always been very important. It has been a huge part of history. Of course like every other resource it had its pros and cons. Automobiles, airplanes, boats, and trains during the 1800s were all being invented.

The post office in the 1840s was a big way of spreading information. Local postmasters (which is a person in control of the post office) were great rewards for local politicians. Three quarters of all federal employees worked at the Post Office. In 1816 the post office employed 3341, but in 1841, there were 14,290 employed workers. The amount of mail expanded way faster than the population grew. There were 2900 letters and 2700 newspapers per thousand people in