Publication of William Goddard's plan in the Essex Gazette newspaper

Ebenezer Hall · March 15-22, 1774

In the March 15-March 22, 1774, edition of the Essex Gazette, printers Samuel and Ebenezer Hall of Salemn, Massachusetts, published the proposal of a fellow printer, William Goddard, for the establishment of an independent postal system. The second and third pages of this folded single sheet newspaper has news of Goddard's proposal that he was promoting for subscriptions and endorsement while on an east coast tour. Goddard’s plan constituted sedition because the mails fell under the purview of the British Crown. Goddard’s designs for a postal system embodied principles of open communication, freedom from governmental interference, and guaranteed free exchange of ideas. He presented his proposal to the Constitutional Congress nearly seven months after this publication. On July 26, 1775, the Congress adopted and implemented the plan, now known as the 'Constitutional Post'. The system sustained communication among the American revolutionaries for the duration of the war, and following independence the new nation’s mail service was built upon it.