The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

Sunday Mail Controversy, Postal Reform,and Mail TransportationDiane DeBlois and Robert Dalton HarrisIntroductionThe Sunday Mail controversies of 1810–1817 and 1828–1831 were thefirst broad- based initiatives of the American public to influence federalpolicy for what was perceived as moral good. 1 The forms of protestused—hundreds of petitions and scores of memorials to Congress—introducedtools of advocacy that proponents of postal reform would use to good advantagein the 1840s. In these political terms, the Sunday Mail conflict presaged the1845 postal reform.But the rejection by Congress of the anti- Sabbatarian protest in favor of SundayMails reveals confidence in some ‘first principles’ of the United States postalsystem—the primacy of a ‘line of posts’ that should not be interrupted, and theaim of transporting the mail along with passengers wherever possible. The PostalReform Act of 1845 confirmed that celerity, certainty, and security were the fundamentalaims of the Post Office Department and signaled a change from stage coachto railroad—both for personal mobility and for the transportation of the mail.Johnson’s Reports on Sunday MailsThe postal service was the one arm of the federal government with intimateconnections to all Americans—so it had enormous political potential. 2Consider Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky’s extraordinarily activecampaign for the vice presidency. He first angled for Andrew Jackson’s ticketin the 1832 election but withdrew when it was clear Martin Van Buren wasthe favorite. For the 1836 election, Van Buren was the clear Democratic choicefor president, but several others were jockeying for the second position. TheDemocratic national convention was held in Baltimore, May 20–22 1835,and Johnson followers had at least three campaign bandanas to wave in hisfavor—each reprinting one of his Sunday Mail reports. 3 One Boston and twoBaltimore publishers exactly reproduced the texts on silk—Henry Bowen forJared Austin, Boston: Johnson’s Report on Sunday Mails. In Congress, March 4,1830; James Lovegrove, Baltimore: Report of the committee of the Senate ofthe United States to whom was referred the several memorials on the subject