to establish post offices and post roads

When congress found those roads suited to the purpose, there could be no constitutional reason for refusing to establish them, as mail-routes. Plainly, because constitutions of government are not instruments to be scrutinized, and weighed, upon metaphysical or grammatical niceties. . . The sense, in which words are commonly used, is that, in which they are to be understood in all transactions between public bodies and individuals. 19. But there is a great difference between the policy of exercising a power, and the right of exercising it. It is said, that there is no reason, why congress should be invested with such a power, seeing that the state roads may, and will furnish convenient routes for the mail. In upholding requirements that publishers of newspapers and periodicals seeking second-class mailing privileges file complete information regarding ownership, indebtedness, and circulation and that all paid advertisements in the publications be marked as such, the Court emphasized that these provisions were reasonably designed to safeguard the second-class privilege from exploitation by mere advertising publications.13 FootnoteLewis Publishing Co. v. Morgan, 229 U.S. 288 (1913). To establish Post Offices and post Roads; . . 12. Later cases first qualified these sweeping assertions and then overturned them, holding government operation of the mails to be subject to constitutional limitations. Referring it to the subject matter, the sense, in no instance, can be mistaken. 7. A turnpike company may be authorized to make a road; and yet may have no jurisdiction, or at least no exclusive jurisdiction over it. Ill. 1855), Searight v. Stokes, 44 U.S. (3 How.) Ill. 1855). The postal powers of Congress embrace all measures necessary to insure the safe and speedy transit and prompt delivery of the mails. Article One, Section Eight charges Congress with the power "to establish Post Offices and Post Roads," and . If so, then in relation to post-roads, the states, and not the Union, are supreme. 9, p. 104. These roads traced routes that became great highways and are still known as the post roads. The one may exist independently of the other. 7, (which is but a sample of the other acts,) declares, that the following roads be established, as post-roads, namely, from Wiscasset in the District of Maine to Savannah in Georgia, by the following route, to wit: Portland, Portsmouth, Newburyport, Ipswich, Salem, Boston, Worcester, etc. Resort has been constantly had to the more expanded sense of the word establish; and no other sense can include the objects, which the post-office laws have constantly included. Nay, it is not only not true, that these laws have stopped short of an exposition of the words sufficiently broad to justify the making of roads; but they have included exercises of power far more remote from the immediate objects. But how can this be made out? The words of the constitution are more extensive, than those of the confederation. It specified that newspapers should be included in mail deliveries and made it illegal for postal officials to. Let a case be taken, when state policy or state hostility shall lead the legislature to close up, or discontinue a road, the nearest and the best between two great states, rivals perhaps for the trade and intercourse of a third state, shall it be said, that congress has no right to make, or repair a road for keeping open for the mail the best means of communication between those states? 1787: Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power "to establish Post Offices and post Roads." Over time, Congress greatly expands this limited role in transportation to include funding highways, urban transit, intercity rail, airports, and many other activities.1790s: Private toll roads start spreading across the states. The Constitution gave power over the Postal Service to Congress, granting Congress the power to establish post offices and post roads. With more than 34,000 retail locations and one . B) Implied powers. 42. 4 Elliots Debates, 279. The agency has said the reduction in sorting machines, a. 4911 posts. Pol'y 983 (2013). We. Lysander Spooner justified his business to the public in his 1844 pamphlet, "The Unconstitutionality of the Laws of Congress, Prohibiting Private Mails": He argued that although the Constitution granted Congress the power to "establish post offices and post roads," this only gave Congress the authority to create a postal service, not to . 1123. It is plain, that to construe the word in any of these cases, as equivalent to designate, or point out, would be absolutely absurd. But it may be asked, if such was the intention, why were not all the other terms of the grant transferred with it? 151, 169 (1845), Bowman v. Chicago & Nw. The leading fraud order case, decided in 1904, held to the same effect.11 FootnotePublic Clearing House v. Coyne, 194 U.S. 497 (1904), followed in Donaldson v. Read Magazine, 333 U.S. 178 (1948). in which it struck down a statute authorizing the Post Office to detain mail it determined to be communist political propaganda and to forward it to the addressee only if he notified the Post Office he wanted to see it. As you know, the United States Postal Service is a pillar of our American Democracy that is enshrined in the Constitution, which empowers Congress to "establish Post Offices and Post Roads." The Postal Service provides critical services for the American people: delivering medicine to seniors, paychecks to workers, tax refunds to millions . The power of congress over the road would be limited to the mere right of passage and preservation. 1133. It never entered into the heads of the wise men of those days, that they possessed a power to create post-offices, without the power to create all the other things necessary to make post-offices of some human use. 4 Elliots Debates, 356. 686 (No. If they can, why then not make it originally? 19,) to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, in the state of Maryland, to the state of Ohio. Both of these acts were passed in the administration of President Jefferson, who, it is well known, on other occasions maintained a strict construction of the constitution. See Act of 18th of October, 1782. So, they have a right to erect hospitals, custom-houses, and courthouses in a state. Ordinance, 18 Oct. 1782; 1 U. S. Laws, (Bioren & Duane,) 651; 7 Journ. 6. . The post-office establishment has already become one of the most beneficent, and useful establishments under the national government.2 It circulates intelligence of a commercial, political, intellectual, and private nature, with incredible speed and regularity. On the contrary, the power comprehends the right to make, or construct any roads, which congress may deem proper for the conveyance of the mail, and to keep them in due repair for such purpose. To establish post offices and post roads; To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries; To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; The constitution itself also uniformly uses the word establish in the general sense, and never in this peculiar and narrow sense. It would have been worse than a mockery. They did not dream of post-offices without posts, or mails, or routes, or carriers. Lafourche Parish. To establish Post Offices and post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective. But it is not admitted, that congress have not exercised this very power with reference to this very object. Whatever is necessary, whatever is appropriate to this purpose, is within the power. By the end of 1819, a postal presence was available for citizens in 22 states, including the newest states of Illinois and Alabama. Under the confederation, this very power to establish post-offices was construed to include the other powers already named, and others far more remote. If they had not laid a tax on certain goods, it could not now be done. In fact, infrastructure spending and the federal government have a history that dates to Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution that gave Congress the power to "establish post offices and post roads." This is not, perhaps, a very important inquiry, because it is admitted on all sides, that it can be exercised only in subordination to the power of congress, if it be concurrent in the states. It would be inconvenient for congress to assemble in a place, where it had not exclusive jurisdiction. Journal of Convention. If resort be had to a very strict and critical examination of the words, the power to establish post-offices imports no more, than the power to create the offices intended; that done, the power is exhausted; and the words are satisfied. The post-office establishment in its nature, and character, and purposes, was so generally deemed useful and convenient, and unexceptionable, that it was wholly unnecessary to expound its value, or enlarge upon its benefits. etc. United States ex rel. 1, p. 649, &c.) an account of the post-office establishment, during the revolution and before the constitution was adopted. But subject to these incidental rights, the right of territory and jurisdiction, civilly and criminally, would be complete and perfect in the state. 14. If we were to ask any number of our most enlightened citizens, who had no connexion with public affairs, and whose minds were unprejudiced, what was the import of the word, establish, and the extent of the grant, which it controls, we do not think, that there would be any difference of opinion among them. Chief Justice White warned that the Court by no means intended to imply that it endorsed the Government's broad contentions concerning . Settlements are first made; after which the progress is uniform and simple, extending to objects in regular order, most necessary to the comfort of man; schools, places of public worship, court-houses, and markets; post-offices follow. D) Concurrent powers. Clause 7 Post Offices. Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub. Ry., 125 U.S. 465 (1888); Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U.S. 100 (1890). The national government did not possess any power, except to establish post-offices from state to state, (leaving perhaps, though not intended, the whole interior post-offices in every state to its own regulation,) and the postage, that could be taken, was not allowed to be beyond the actual expenses; thus shutting up the avenue to all improvements. Noting that Congress was not bound to operate a postal service, the Court observed that while it did, it was bound to observe constitutional guarantees.17 Footnote 381 U.S. at 305, quoting Justice Holmes in United States ex rel. See Rawle on the Constitution, ch. This conclusion is confirmed by the object of the grant and the manner of its execution. Congress shall have powerto establish post offices and post roads . Postal Service, whose financial condition resembles that of the federal government, of which the USPS is another ailing appendage, is urging cancellation of Saturday deliveries . In granting then this power to the United States, it was, undoubtedly, intended by the framers and ratifiers of the constitution, to convey it in the sense and extent only, in which it had been understood and exercised by the previous authorities of the country. No one, accustomed to the retardations of the post in passing through independent states on the continent of Europe, can fail to appreciate the benefits of a power, which pervades the Union. In the early days, the mail was delivered via horseback or stagecoach along postal roads to local post offices. Viewing the matter realistically, the Supreme Court treated this provision as a penalty. The intention of the parties is supported by other proof, which ought to place it beyond all doubt. Without any invidious distinction, it may be stated, that the winter mail-route between Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and Washington, by the way of the Susquehannah and Havre de Grace, has been before congress under this very aspect. It is no longer a power to designate a thing, or mark out a route; but it is a power to create, and fix every other thing necessary-and appropriate to post-offices. According to James Madison: The power of establishing post-roads, must in every view be a harmless power; and may perhaps, by judicious management, become productive of great public conveniency. The Continental Congress began creating post roads during the revolutionary war. It then unavoidably includes, not merely a power to designate, but a power to create the thing intended, and to do all other acts to make the thing effectual; that is, to create the whole system appropriate to a post-office establishment. re: Can we please just shut down the post office Posted on 3/9/23 at 6:34 am to PaperTiger. That of the state would be general, and embrace all other objects. . Amendment XVI authorized Congress to establish a national income tax. 29. Vattel: Law of Nations or Principles of Natural Law, Americas Heritage: Constitutional Liberty, Storys Commentaries on Constitution of the U.S. (1833). 1 Tuck. Beyond this the doctrine of incidental power cannot be carried. This is not about whether there should be a USPS; it is about the fact . In Mr. 686 (No. 1127. Now, if the meaning of the word here was simply to point out, or designate post-offices, there would have been an end of all further authority, except of regulating the post-offices, so designated and pointed out. It would be absurd to say, that, by omitting from the constitution any portion of the phraseology, which was deemed important in the confederation. The use of the existing road, by the stage, mail-carrier, or post-boy, in passing over it, as others do, is all, that would be thought of; the jurisdiction and soil remaining to the state, with a right in the state, or those authorized by its legislature, to change the road at pleasure. The present improved system by mail-coaches was not introduced until 1782. as it chooses. 12 FootnotePub. And here, if ever, the rule of interpretation, which requires us to look at the nature of the instrument, and the objects of the power, as a national power, in order to expound its meaning, must come into operation. To establish Post Offices and post Roads; Meaning: Deal with the mail 8th Clause and Meaning To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; Meaning: Set up a system of copyrights and patents 9th Clause and Meaning The power of establishing post roads must, in every view, be a harmless power . In past centuries, only major towns had a post house and the roads used by post riders or mail coaches to carry mail among them were particularly important ones or, due to the special attention given them, became so. To establish laws on the subject of bankruptcies is to frame, fix, and pass them. 16114) (C.C.N.D. . Amer. In Article I, Section 8, the Constitution gave Congress the ability "To establish Post Offices and post Roads." That means it not only does Congress have the power to create a postal system, it had the ability to acquire and control the land for the "post roads" to carry the mail and the buildings needed to maintain the system. The law guaranteed the sanctity of personal correspondence and provided the entire country with low-cost . Co. v. Burleson, 255 U.S. 407, 437 (1921), Blount v. Rizzi, 400 U.S. 410, 416 (1971), United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Assn's, 453 U.S. 114, 127 n.5 (1981), Ex parte Jackson, 96 U.S. 727, 733 (1878), United States v. van Leeuwen, 397 U.S. 249 (1970), United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606 (1977), Lamont v. Postmaster General, 381 U.S. 301, 30607 (1965), Rowan v. Post Office Dep't, 397 U.S. 728 (1970), Electric Bond & Share Co. v. SEC, 303 U.S. 419 (1938), United States v. Railroad Bridge Co., 27 F. Cas. Clause 7 Post Offices To establish Post Offices and post Roads; ArtI.S8.C7.1 Historical Background on Postal Power ArtI.S8.C7.2 Power to Protect the Mails ArtI.S8.C7.3 Power to Prevent Harmful Use of Postal Facilities ArtI.S8.C7.4 Exclusive Power Over Post Offices as an Adjunct to Other Powers But see United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606 (1977) (border search). It has been truly said, that in a strict sense, this power is executed by the single act of making the establishment. It brings the most distant places and persons, as it were, in contact with each other; and thus softens the anxieties, increases the enjoyments, and cheers the solitude of millions of hearts. The U.S. Constitution, in 1789, authorized Congress to establish "Post Offices and post Roads" but, unlike the Articles of Confederation, did not explicitly establish an exclusive monopoly . 1131. There are many places peculiarly fit for local post-offices, where no suitable building might be found. 1122. A: This a quotation from the U.S. Constitution, Article I, 8, Clause 7. We are not now looking to what are properly incidents, or means to carry into effect given powers; but are to construe the terms of an express power. The grounds of the former opinion seem to be as follows. Power to Establish Post Offices and Post-roads. By the act of 21st of April, 1806, (ch. Unconnected with passengers and other objects, it cannot be doubted, that the mail itself may be carried in every part of our Union, with nearly as much economy, and greater despatch, on horseback, than in a stage; and in many parts with much greater. This is an utter mistake. Now, this involves a plain departure from the very ground of the argument. 16114) (C.C.N.D. Before post offices existed, most people had two options for delivering a letter. No. It is probable, that the constitution intended nothing more by this provision, than to enable congress to do by law, without consulting the states, what in Europe can be done only by treaty or compact. If the states can discontinue their roads, why not obstruct them? 28. with the transportation of the mails, Congress could enter a valid compact with the State of Pennsylvania regarding the use and upkeep of the portion of the road lying in the state.2 FootnoteSearight v. Stokes, 44 U.S. (3 How.) 22. 1144. Already the post-office establishment realizes a revenue exceeding two millions of dollars, from which it defrays all its own expenses, and transmits mails in various directions over more than one hundred and twenty thousand miles. Suppose one of these roads should be discontinued, could the mail-carriers insist upon travelling it? Aware of the difficulties attendant upon this extremely strict construction, another has been attempted, which is more liberal, but which it has been thought (as will be hereafter seen) to surrender the substance of the argument. It thus administers, in a very high degree, to the comfort, the interests, and the necessities of persons, in every rank and station of life. Is not a power to establish courts a power to create, and make, and regulate them? United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Assn's. It may be said, that, unless congress have the power, the mail-roads might be obstructed, or discontinued at the will of the state authorities. The supposed silence of the Federalist26 proves nothing. 1139. There can be no motive to use the power, except for the public good; and circumstances may render it indispensable to carry it out in particular cases to its full limits. Is the one more a means to an end, than the other? v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Assn's, 453 U.S. 114 (1981), Searight v. Stokes, 44 U.S. (3 How.) The power to create the office does not necessarily include the power to carry the mail, or regulate the conveyance of letters, or employ carriers. Comm. In short, like every other power under the confederation, it perished from a jealousy, which required it to live, and yet refused it appropriate nourishment and sustenance.6. 1124. In the same manner, to establish post-offices and post-roads is to frame and pass laws, to erect, make, form, regulate, and preserve them. The right to exact postage and to protect the post-offices and mails from robbery by punishing the offenders, may fairly be considered, as incidents to the grant, since, without it, the object of the grant might be defeated. It may be said with some plausibility, that the right to carry the mail, and to punish those, who rob it, is not indispensably necessary to the establishment of a post-office and a post-road. 1142. POST ROADS POST ROADS. Does the federal government establish Post Offices? This principle was recognized by the Supreme Court in 1845 in holding that wagons carrying United States mail were not subject to a state toll tax imposed for use of the Cumberland Road pursuant to a compact with the United States.5 FootnoteSearight v. Stokes, 44 U.S. (3 How.) It was based on the Constitutional authority empowering Congress "To establish post offices and post roads". . Post roads increased from 59,473 miles at the beginning of 1819 to 84,860 by the end of 1823. It was continued, amended, and finally repealed, by a series of acts from 1792 to 1810; all of which acts have the same title, and the same provisions declaring certain roads to be post-roads. And, if a power to construct post-office buildings exists, where is the restraint upon constructing roads? It would not be impracticable, though it would be extremely inconvenient and embarrassing. Under the constitution congress has, without any questioning, given a liberal construction to the power to establish post-offices and post-roads. First, Congress is given the explicit power to, by law, create, form, establish post offices across the country and a notable addition that the founders felt was important, to establish post roads across the country created with the purpose of transferring the mail. 9,) congress was invested with the sole and exclusive power of establishing and regulating post-offices from one state to another throughout the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same, as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office.4 How little was accomplished under it will be at once apparent from the fact, that there were but seventy-five post-offices established in all the United States in the year 1789; that the whole amount of postage in 1790 was only $37,935; and the number of miles travelled by the mails only 1875.5 This may be in part attributable to the state of the country, and the depression of all the commercial and other interests of the country. In 1872, Congress passed the first of a series of acts to exclude from the mails publications designed to defraud the public or corrupt its morals. Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub. There's a clause of the Constitution I didn't expect to get to anytime soon. It gives the Congress the power "to establish post offices and post roads" In 1789, when the Constitution was adopted, the mail was carried on by riders on horseback. When the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789, Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 gave Congress the ability to "establish post offices and post roads." In 1792, President George Washington . . In 1789, that meant 75 Post Offices and about 2,400 miles of post roads. But, as in other areas, postal censorship systems must contain procedural guarantees sufficient to ensure prompt resolution of disputes about the character of allegedly objectionable material consistently with the First Amendment.20 FootnoteBlount v. Rizzi, 400 U.S. 410 (1971). The latter power may not exist at all; even if the former should be unquestionable. the Court sustained the exclusion of circulars relating to lotteries on the general ground that the right to designate what shall be carried necessarily involves the right to determine what shall be excluded. 10 Footnote 96 U.S. at 732. The Federalist No. Globe, 24th Cong., 1st Sess., 3, 10, 298 (1835). Under the confederation, with the strict limitation of powers, which that instrument conferred, they put into operation a large system for the appropriate purposes of a post-office establishment.18 No man ever doubted, or denied the constitutionality of this exercise of the power. The Post Office Act of 1792 codified the presumption that Congress would retain primary control over postal policy--a presumption that remained a cornerstone of that policy . It is the only delivery service that reaches every address within the United States, which is approximately 155 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. These delegated powers are often referred to as the "enumerated" or "expressed" powers. The earliest record of an attempt to set up a post road in North Carolina is a letter written by William Farris, dated 27 Jan. 1739. In Article I, Section 8, the Constitution gave Congress the ability "To establish Post Offices and post Roads." That means it not only does Congress have the power to create a postal system, it had the ability to acquire and control the land for the "post roads" to carry the mail and the buildings needed to maintain A unanimous Court transformed these reservations into a holding in Lamont v. Postmaster General,16 Footnote381 U.S. 301 (1965). 1128. 10. 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