Spreading the news : the American postal system from Franklin to Morse / Richard R. John.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

John, Richard R., 1959-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Postal service--United States--History.

Postal service.

Communication and traffic.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (384p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

American postal system from Franklin to Morse

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This text tells the story of the communications revolution spurred by the American postal system and the challenge it posed for American business, politics and cultural life.

In the seven decades from its establishment in 1775 to the commercialization of the electric telegraph in 1844, the American postal system spurred a communications revolution no less far-reaching than the subsequent revolutions associated with the telegraph, telephone, and computer. This book tells the story of that revolution and the challenge it posed for American business, politics, and cultural life. During the early republic, the postal system was widely hailed as one of the most important institutions of the day. No other institution had the capacity to transmit such a large volume of information on a regular basis over such an enormous geographical expanse. The stagecoaches and postriders who conveyed the mail were virtually synonymous with speed. In the United States, the unimpeded transmission of information has long been hailed as a positive good. In few other countries has informational mobility been such a cherished ideal. Richard John shows how postal policy can help explain this state of affairs. He discusses its influence on the development of such information-intensive institutions as the national market, the voluntary association, and the mass party. He traces its consequences for ordinary Americans, including women, blacks, and the poor. In a broader sense, he shows how the postal system worked to create a national society out of a loose union of confederated states. This exploration of the role of the postal system in American public life provides a fresh perspective not only on an important but neglected chapter in American history, but also on the origins of some of the most distinctive features of American life today.

Contents:

Preface Acknowledgments The Postal System as an Agent of Change The Communications Revolution Completing the Network The Imagined Community The Invasion of the Sacred The Wellspring of Democracy The Interdiction of Dissent Conclusion Abbreviations Notes Sources Index

Notes:

Originally published: 1995.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 343-356) and index.

ISBN:

9780674039148

0674039149

OCLC:

923109890