Podcast
99% Invisible
It was highlighted as a revelation that the post office was instrumental in uniting the colonies and played a key role in creating the United States of America, past its initial purpose of delivering mail.
I was sitting on my back porch in Wyoming one night, you know, as the sun sank in the Golden West, and I just jumped up out of the chair and like shrieked at my husband, The Post Office Created Americ...
— Episode: The Revolutionary Post (Repeat)
Episode: The Revolutionary Post (Repeat)
It was highlighted as a revelation that the post office was instrumental in uniting the colonies and played a key role in creating the United States of America, past its initial purpose of delivering mail.
I was sitting on my back porch in Wyoming one night, you know, as the sun sank in the Golden West, and I just jumped up out of the chair and like shrieked at my husband, The Post Office Created America.
That is author and historian Winifred Gallagher, and she wrote a book based on this revelation called Appropriately. How the Post Office Created America, A History.
Gallagher argues that the Post Office didn't just create an efficient and inexpensive way to send a letter from Oakland, California into the Grand Canyon.
The service was designed to unite a bunch of disparate towns and people under one flag, and in doing so, the Post Office actually created the United States of America.
If the post office truly created America, and I think Winifred Gallagher makes a pretty good case that it did, it's now playing a more supporting role.
Episode: The Revolutionary Post
It was argued that the post office played a vital role in uniting disparate communities and fostering a sense of national identity, leading to the creation of the United States of America.
I was sitting on my back porch in Wyoming one night, you know, as the sun sank in the golden west, and I just jumped up out of the chair and like shrieked at my husband, the post office created America.
The post office didn't just create an efficient and inexpensive way to send a letter from Oakland, California into the Grand Canyon. The service was designed to unite a bunch of disparate towns and people under one flag, and in doing so, the post office actually created the United States of America.
I believe that the process of going around and thinking about these 13 colonies as not just disconnected but links in a chain, I think this started him thinking about ways that they could come together as a people.
If the post office truly created America, and I think Winifred Gallagher makes a pretty good case that it did, it's now playing a more supporting role.
Conservatives talk about privatizing the whole operation, but right now Gallagher doubts that this is possible. Actually, the private competitors, neither FedEx or UPS is equipped to handle the volume of American mail.