Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
In 1728, Andrew Bradford was appointed Philadelphia\u2019s postmaster. He stayed in that positionuntil 1737, which is when British authorities fired him for poor mail service and cooking the books. <\/p>\n
In his place, the monarchy hired Ben Franklin, a model American and British loyalist, whose work in Philadelphia laid the groundwork for him to become the postmaster general of the United States, in 1775. <\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Historic District<\/a> will celebrate Ben Franklin becoming Philadelphia\u2019s postmaster general Saturday at Franklin Court at its weekly \u201cfirstival\u201d day party. Firstivals, a part of the city\u2019s 52 Weeks of Firsts celebrations, are fetes honoring American \u2014 and world \u2014 firsts that happened in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n As Philadelphia\u2019s postmaster<\/a>, Ben Franklin, also the founder of the Pennsylvania Gazette, mailed his newspapers to readers at no cost, said Nicholas Guarino, an interpretation park ranger at Independence National Historical Park. In awarding himself free postage, he was able to build a wide circulation, making his newspaper one of the most popular in the country. <\/p>\n Franklin did such a good job for the Crown that in 1753, it appointed him postmaster general of all 13 colonies. <\/p>\n In his role, he established mail routes along the Eastern Seaboard, set a schedule for quick mail delivery, and authorized couriers to deliver mail during the day and night. <\/p>\n Franklin instituted the practice of delivering mail to people\u2019s homes and created a space for dead letters, mail that could not be delivered but could be recovered. <\/p>\n He also set up a flat rate so that newspapermen could send out papers and pamphlets. Quick and accurate delivery of information in an emerging democracy would prove crucial in the formation of the Continental Army and building the new republic. <\/p>\n \u201cFranklin had an egalitarian approach to mail,\u201d Guarino said. \u201c[He] believed that it was important that a just society flourish from its foundation. His work as postmaster aligns with his other civic work like starting the lending library, the Pennsylvania Hospital, and the volunteer fire department.\u201d <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Yes, John Bartram founded America\u2019s first botanical garden. He also created the first subscription box for gardeners.<\/a><\/p>\n By the mid 1700s, the British government was intercepting colonial mail because they heard whispers of rebellion. Colonists soon got disillusioned with British rule and the monarchy and Franklin switched his allegiance. The mail then became a vehicle through which he spread his message of revolution. <\/p>\n Franklin\u2019s sympathies for American freedom led Britain to dismiss him in 1774. <\/p>\n The following year, on July 26, 1775 \u2014 three months after the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired \u2014 Ben Franklin became the first postmaster general of the nascent United States Post Office<\/a>, established by the Second Continental Congress. <\/p>\n \u201cHe began stamping the mail with \u2018B. Free Franklin\u2019, Guarino said, \u201dspreading his message of revolution in a subtle way.” <\/p>\n Franklin served as the newly forming country\u2019s first postmaster general for a little over a year before the Continental Congress sent him to France to solicit the country\u2019s support in the Revolutionary War. Franklin\u2019s son-in-law, Richard Bache<\/a>, took the job. <\/p>\n In 1787, the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, granting the government the power to create a postal system. Five years later, President George Washington signed the bill creating the United States Post Office Department, the foundation for the modern postal system.<\/p>\n \u201cThey felt a postal service was important for new ideas and economic prosperity to flourish in the new nation,\u201d Guarino said. <\/p>\n The post office was part of the presidential cabinet until July 1, 1971 when then President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act, transforming the United States Mail into an independent for-profit entity we now know as the U.S. Postal Service.<\/p>\n This week\u2019s Firstival is Saturday, April 25, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at Franklin Court, 322 Market Street, The Inquirer will highlight a \u201cfirst\u201d from the Philadelphia Historic District\u2019s 52 Weeks of Firsts<\/a> program every week. A \u201c52 Weeks of Firsts\u201d<\/a> podcast, produced by All That\u2019s Good Productions, drops every Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min In 1728, Andrew Bradford was appointed Philadelphia\u2019s postmaster. 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