Jefferson, Thomas. Printed document signed, being a Post Office Act, 1791

JEFFERSON, THOMAS

PRINTED BROADSIDE DOCUMENT SIGNED AS SECRETARY OF STATE ("TH: JEFFERSON"), BEING "AN ACT TO CONTINUE IN FORCE FOR A LIMITED TIME, AN ACT, INTITULED 'AN ACT FOR THE TEMPORARY ESTABLISHMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE'" 

Broadside (11 5/8 x 7 1/2 in.; 295 x 191 mm). [Philadelphia: Francis Childs and John Swaine, after 3 March 1791.] Countersigned in letterpress by President George Washington, Vice-President John Adams, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg; margins trimmed, lightly soiled, some fold creases and separations, several repaired on verso.

The foundation of the United States Post Office: Secretary of State Jefferson signs an act of the First Congress "to continue in force for a limited time, an Act, intituled 'An Act for the temporary Establishment of the Post-office.'"

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act passed the first session of Congress, intituled 'An Act for the temporary establishment of the post-office,' be, and the same is hereby continued in full force until the end of the next session of Congress and no longer. And be it further enacted, That all letters to and from the treasurer, comptroller and auditor of the treasury, and the assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, on public service, shall be received and conveyed by the post, free of postage. And be it further enacted, That the postmaster-general shall be, and is hereby authorized to extend the carrying the mail from Albany, in the state of New-York, to Bennington in the state of Vermont."

The United States Post Office was created on 22 September 1789, but it was only temporary in that the government had not decided on a permanent infrastructure. The present act demonstrates the insistence of Congress in maintaining control over the early postal routes. The first Congress met in three sessions; the third, begun on 6 December 1780, was the first to assemble in Philadelphia after the first two were held in New York City.

The first session act referenced here was essentially a continuance, since the Post Office was one of the executive departments inherited by the Washington administration from the Continental Congress. The act of 20 February 1792, however, made detailed provisions for the Post Office, and subsequent legislation enlarged the duties of that office, strengthening and unifying its organization, and providing rules and regulations for its development.