[160] Ibid., 6th December 1791.
[161] See Congressional Record (House of Representatives), 21st February 1863.
[162] Questions of the establishment and maintenance of the post roads were dealt with by Congress separately from questions of mail service.
[163] Reports of Senate Committee, 27th January 1835, p. 115.
[164] Letter to Hon. Mr. Kennedy, Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage, pp. 336-7.
[165] See D. D. T. Leech, The Post Office Department of the United States of America; its History, Organization, and Working, Washington, D.C., 1879.
[166] Message to Congress, 3rd December 1844.
[167] Some notion of the spirit in which the question was approached may be gathered from the following extracts:—
"To content the man dwelling more remote from town with his homely lot, by giving him regular and frequent means of intercommunication: to assure to the emigrant, who plants his new home on the skirts of the distant wilderness or prairie, that he is not forever severed from the kindred and society that still share his interest and love: to prevent those whom the swelling tide of population is constantly pressing to the outer verge of civilization from being surrendered to surrounding influences and sinking into the hunter or savage state: to render the citizen, how far soever from the seat of his Government, worthy, by proper knowledge and intelligence, of his important privileges as a sovereign constituent of the Government: to diffuse, throughout all parts of the land, enlightenment, social improvement, and national affinities, elevating our people in the scale of civilization, and binding them together in patriotic affection."—Report of House Committee, 15th May 1844.
"It [the Post Office] was a most important element in the hand of civilization, especially of a republican people. There would be room to dilate in reference to the utility of the diffusion of sciences, the promotion of morals, and all these great benefits resulting from the intercourse of mind and mind.... Because it was so well understood by those who framed the Constitution, we find in that sacred instrument that the power of this department of the public service is exclusively vested in Congress.... Every nook and corner of this country should be visited by its operations, that it should shed light and information to the remote frontier settler as well as to the inhabitant of the populous city or densely populated districts."—Mr. Merrick in the Senate when introducing the Bill, 27th January 1845 (Congressional Globe).