The Early History of the Colonial Post-Office

The essay traces the evolution of colonial mail from informal personal couriers—neighbors, merchants, sailors, and Native messengers—to organized arrangements instituted by colonial authorities. It recounts early municipal orders designating receivers for overseas letters and later ordinances in Dutch and English colonies to regulate vessel-borne correspondence. It describes experiments with scheduled posts linking Atlantic ports, practical details of sealed bags and messenger salaries, and intermittent failures due to war and politics. It concludes with discussion of later royal patents and administrative steps that established an intercolonial postal system and the mechanisms for collection, sealing, and delivery.