Posted by Randy Barnett:
Lysander Spooner's Post Office:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_06_07-2009_06_13.shtml#1244735069
In an address given in 1844, abolitionist Charles Dexter Cleveland
contended that the U.S. Post Office not only suppressed abolitionist
writings, but also provided a massive subsidy from the profitable
Northern routes to the unprofitable Southern routes. It occurred to me
that this consideration could well have explained why abolitionist
Lysander Spooner decided to establish his private American Letter Mail
Company in 1844 to compete with the Post Office. While obtaining
additional information about Spooner's enterprise, I came across this
recent account of Spooner's venture: [1]Lysander Spooner and the
United States Postal Monopoly by Michael Billy.
On May 11 the US Post Office is raising the price of stamps by 2¢.
Even in the face of increasing prices, many people will argue that
the Post Office is necessary because a private organization could
never perform these functions for a similar cost. The story of
Lysander Spooner, however, might rekindle the debate over the
necessity of a monopoly Post Office.
Although Billy does not pursue the antislavery angle, he does supply a
number of interesting details. For example,
Spooner ran a front page ad in the New York Daily Tribune
announcing the creation of the company, while stating that his
rates would be 6.25 cents per half-ounce letter, or 20 stamps for a
dollar. He also stated that delivery would be daily, or twice daily
between New York and Philadelphia. The most audacious part of the
ad, however, was his direct challenge to the Constitutionality of
the Post Office: "The Company design also (if sustained by the
public) is to thoroughly agitate the questions, and test the
Constitutional right of the competition in the business of carrying
letters - the ground on which they assert this right are published
and for sale at the post offices in pamphlet form." Spooner wanted
competition to be legal.
He even went as far as to send a personal letter to the Postmaster
General informing him of his intent to form a letter delivery
company. In the letter Spooner said that he proposed, �soon to
establish a letter mail [company] from Boston to Baltimore. I shall
myself remain in this city, where I shall be ready at any time to
answer to any suit. . . .� Accompanying the letter was a copy of
his pamphlet, The Unconstitutionality of the Laws of Congress
Prohibiting Private Mails.
If you have any interest in Spooner (or in alternatives to the Post
Office), you should read the whole thing. Spooner's essay against the
constitutionality of the postal monopoly can be found [2]here.
References
1. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/271139
2. http://www.lysanderspooner.org/bib_new.htm
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