United States Post Office Department

This article is about the postal agency that existed prior to 1971. For the current postal agency in the United States, see United States Postal Service.
"Post Office Department" redirects here. For the former Canadian Post Office Department, see Canada Post.

United States Post Office Department
Postal system overview
FormedFebruary 20, 1792 (1792-02-20)
DissolvedJuly 1, 1971 (1971-07-01)
Superseding Postal system
HeadquartersWilliam Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, Washington, D.C., U.S.
Postal system executive

The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, established in 1792. From 1872 to 1971, it was officially in the form of a Cabinet department. It was headed by the postmaster general.

The Postal Service Act, signed by U.S. president George Washington on February 20, 1792, established the department. Postmaster General John McLean, in office from 1823 to 1829, was the first to call it the Post Office Department rather than just the "Post Office." The organization received a boost in prestige when President Andrew Jackson invited his postmaster general, William T. Barry, to sit as a member of the Cabinet in 1829.[1] The Post Office Act of 1872 (17 Stat. 283) elevated the Post Office Department to Cabinet status.[2]

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), postal services in the Confederate States of America were provided by the Confederate States of America Post-office Department, headed by Postmaster General John Henninger Reagan. It faced insurmountable obstacles, especially the requirement that it not run a deficit.[3]

The Postal Reorganization Act was signed by President Richard Nixon on August 12, 1970. It replaced the cabinet-level Post Office Department with the independent United States Postal Service on July 1, 1971. The regulatory role of the postal services was then transferred to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

  1. ^ "The United States Postal Service: An American History 1775 – 2002". United States Postal Service. September 2003. Archived from the original on October 30, 2004.
  2. ^ "Indexes to Rosters of Railway Postal Clerks, ca. 1883 – ca. 1902". National Archives and Records Administration. August 15, 2016.
  3. ^ Anderson, John Nathan (2013). "Money or Nothing: Confederate Postal System Collapse during the Civil War". American Journalism. 30: 65–86. doi:10.1080/08821127.2013.767666. S2CID 152927495.