The second Congress, held May 10, 1775, was remarkable for its action at a moment when liberty was as a “waif” in the political world, liable at every breeze to be lost in the vortex of its revolutions. It set the seal on British rule in the colonies forever! It was the first move morally and physically made against tyranny and usurpation, and was only surpassed by that which inaugurated the Fourth of July, 1776, as the birthday of freedom!
One of the acts of its members was to adopt the armies of New England, and elect General George Washington commander-in-chief, and also to adopt a platform which made colonial resistance, to use a modern term, “a military necessity.”
Another of their measures was to correct the postal department, which during Franklin’s absence had been somewhat neglected. A committee was appointed, of which Franklin was made chairman, to consider the best means of establishing posts for the conveyance of letters and intelligence throughout the country. Franklin was at home in this employment, having served a long apprenticeship and studied its workings both theoretically and practically. He drew up a plan for the purpose, and laid it before the committee, who approved of it at once; and it was eventually the same as that upon which the post-office of America is now conducted.
The committee recommended that a postmaster-general be appointed for the United States, who should hold his office at Philadelphia, and be allowed a salary of one thousand dollars for himself, and three hundred and forty dollars per annum for a secretary and controller, “with power to appoint such and so many deputies as to him may seem proper and necessary;” that a line of posts should be appointed, under the direction of the postmaster-general, from Falmouth, in New England, to Savannah, in Georgia, “with as many cross-posts as he shall think fit; that the allowance of the deputies in lieu of salary and all contingent expenses shall be twenty per cent. on the sums they collect and pay into the general post-office, annually, when the whole is under, or not exceeding, one thousand dollars, and ten per cent. for all sums above that amount a year; that the several departments account quarterly with the general post-office, and the postmaster-general annually with the Continental treasurers, when he shall pay into the receipt of the said treasurers the profits of the post-office, and if the necessary expenses of this establishment should exceed the produce of it, the deficiency shall be made good by the United Colonies, and paid to the postmaster-general by the Continental treasurers.”
This plan, and resolutions accompanying it, were submitted to Congress, who adopted it, and, taking into consideration the interest Franklin had always taken in the department, and also his summary dismissal under the “British dynasty,” unanimously elected Benjamin Franklin, Esq., postmaster-general for one year, and until another Congress assembled. Eighteen months had passed since his dismissal, when he now found himself reinstated in office with higher rank and augmented authority. Nay, more: he was postmaster-general under a new ruling power,—a power that was uprising like the glorious sun from the mists and the gloom of a long, dreary night of wrong and oppression. It was now the dawn of a new era in the history of men and of nations. It was the dawn of freedom!
The people made a law; and as there cannot be rational freedom where there are arbitrary restraints, they adopted Cicero’s maxim, and proclaimed liberty as the law of the land:—
“Libertas est potestas faciendi id quod jure liceat.”
One of the strongest tests by which the progressive prosperity of a country may be ascertained is that of its postal department. It forms a chain which links together all private and public interests; it links state to state, countries to countries, nations to nations. It is the alphabet of the world!