from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
POST OFFICE. A place where letters are received to be sent to the persons to
whom they, are addressed.
2. The post office establishment of the United States, is of the
greatest importance to the people and to the government. The constitution of
the United States has invested congress with power to establish post offices
and post roads.. Art. 1, s. 8, n. 7.
3. By virtue of this constitutional authority, congress passed several
laws anterior to the third day of March, 1825, when an act, entitled "An act
to reduce into one the several acts establishing and regulating the post
office department," was passed. 3 Story, U. S. 1985. It is thereby enacted,
Sec. 1. That there be established, the seat of the government of the United
States, a general post office, under the direction of a postmaster general.
The postmaster general shall appoint two assistants, and such clerks as may
be necessary for the performance of the business of his office, and as are
authorized by law; and shall procure, and cause to be kept, a seal for the
said office, which shall be affixed to commissions of postmasters, and used
to authenticate all transcripts and copies which may be required from the
department. He shall establish post offices, and appoint postmasters, at all
such places as shall appear to him expedient, on the post roads that are, or
may be, established by law. He shall give his assistants, the postmasters,
and all other persons whom he shall employ, or who may be employed in any of
the departments of the general post office, instructions relative to their
duty. He shall provide for the carriage of the mail on all post roads that
are, or may be, established by law, and as often "he, having regard to the
productiveness thereof, and other circumstances, shall think proper. He may
direct the route or road, where there are more than one, between places
designated by law for a post road, Which route shall be considered the post
road. He shall obtain, from the postmasters, their accounts and vouchers for
their receipts and expenditures, once in three months, or oftener, with the
balances thereon arising, in favor of the general post office. He shall pay
all expenses which may arise in conducting the post office, and in the
conveyance of the mail, and all other necessary expenses arising on the
collection of the revenue, and management of the general post office. He
shall prosecute offences against the post office establishment. He shall,
once in three months, render, to the secretary of the treasury, a quarterly
account of all the receipts and expenditures in the said department, to be
adjusted and settled as other public accounts. He shall, also, superintend
the business of the department in all tho duties that are, or may be
assigned to it: Provided, That, in case of the death, resignation, or,
removal from office, of the postmaster general, all his duties shall be
performed by his senior assistant, until a successor shall be appointed, and
arrive at the general post office, to perform the business.
4.-Sec. 2. That the postmaster general, and all other persons
employed in the general post office, or in the care, custody, or conveyance
of the mail, shall, previous to entering upon the duties assigned to them,
or the execution of their trusts, and before they shall be entitled to
receive any emolument therefor, respectively take and subscribe the
following oath, or affirmation, before some magistrate, and cause a
certificate thereof to be filed in the general post office: "I, A B, do
swear or affirm, (as the case may be, that I will faithfully perform all the
duties required of me, and abstain from everything forbidden by the laws in
relation to the establishment of the post office and post road s within the
United States." Every person who shall be, in any manner, employed in the
care, custody, or conveyance, or management of the mail, shall be subject to
all pains, penalties, and forfeitures, for violating the injunctions, or
neglecting the duties, required of him by the laws relating to the
establishment of the post office and post roads, whether such person shall
have taken the oath or affirmation, above prescribed, or not.
5.-Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the postmaster general, upon
the appointment of any postmaster, to require, and take, of such postmaster,
bond, with good and approved security, in such penalty as he may judge
sufficient, conditioned for the faithful discharge of all the duties of such
postmaster, required by law, or which may be required by any instruction, or
general rule, for the government of the department: Provided, however, That,
if default shall be made by the postmaster aforesaid, at any time, and the
postmaster general shall fail to institute suit against such post-master,
and said sureties, for two years from and after such default shall be made,
then, and in that case, the said sureties shall not be held liable to the
United States, nor shall suit be instituted against them.
6.-Sec. 4. That the postmaster general shall cause a mail to be
carried from the nearest post office, on any established post road, to the
court house of any county which is now, or may hereafter be established in
any of the states or territories of the United States, and which is without
a mail; and the road on which such mail shall be transported, shall become a
post road, and so continue, until the transportation thereon shall cease. It
shall for the postmaster general to enter into contracts, for a term not
exceeding four years, for extending the line of posts, and to authorize the
persons, so contracting, as a compensation for their expenses, to receive
during the continuance of such contracts, at rates not exceeding those for
like distances, established by this act, all the postage which shall arise
on all letters, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and packets, conveyed by
any such posts; and the roads designated in such contracts, shall, during
the continuance thereof, be deemed and considered as post roads, within the
provision of this act: and a duplicate of every such contract shall, within
sixty days after the execution thereof, be lodged in the office of the
comptroller of the treasury of the United States.
7.-Sec. 5. That the postmaster general be authorized to have the mail
carried in any steamboat, or other vessel, which shall be used as a packet
in, any of the waters of the United States, on such terms and conditions as
shall be considered expedient: Provided, That he does not pay more than
three cents for each letter, And more than one half cent for each newspaper,
conveyed in such mail.
8.-Sec. 8. That, whenever it shall be made appear, to the
satisfaction of the postmaster general, that any road established, or which
may hereafter be established as a post road, is obstructed by fences, gates,
or tars, or other than those lawfully used on turnpike, roads to collect
their toll, and not kept in good repair, with proper bridges and ferries,
where the same may be necessary, it shall be the duty of the postmaster
general to report the same to congress, with such information as can be
obtained, to enable congress to establish some other road instead of it, in
the same main direction.
9.-Sec. 9. That it shall be the duty of the postmaster general to
report, annually, to congress, every post road which shall not, after the
second year from its establishment, have produced one-third of the expense
of carrying the mail on the same.
10. The act "to change the organization of the post office department,
and to provide more effectually for the settlement of the accounts thereof,"
passed July 2, 1836, 4 Shars. cont. of Story L. U. S. 2464, contains a
variety of minute provisions for the settlement of the revenue of the post
office department.
11. By the act of the 3d of March, 1845, various provisions are made to
protect the department from fraud and to prevent the abuse of franking.
12. Finding roads in use throughout the country, congress has
established, that is, selected such as suited the convenience of the
government, and which the exigencies of the people required, to be post
roads. It has seldom exercised the power of making new roads, but examples
are not wanting of roads having been made under the express authority of
congress. Story, Const. Sec. 1133. Vide Dead Letter; Jeopardy; Letter; Mail;
Newspaper; Postage; Postmaster; Postmaster general.