It specified that newspapers should be included in mail deliveries and made it illegal for postal officials to. In 1981, the Supreme Court in United States Postal Service v. A learned commentator deems it concurrent, inasmuch as there seems nothing in the constitution, or in the nature of the thing itself, which may not be exercised by both governments at the same time, without prejudice or interference; but subordinate, because, whenever any power is expressly granted to congress, it is to be taken for granted, that it is not to be contravened by the authority of any particular state. p. 24, note. 9,) congress was invested with the sole and exclusive power of establishing and regulating post-offices from one state to another throughout the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same, as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office.4 How little was accomplished under it will be at once apparent from the fact, that there were but seventy-five post-offices established in all the United States in the year 1789; that the whole amount of postage in 1790 was only $37,935; and the number of miles travelled by the mails only 1875.5 This may be in part attributable to the state of the country, and the depression of all the commercial and other interests of the country. Different nations in Europe have established posts, and for mutual convenience have stipulated a free passage for the posts arriving on their frontiers through their territories. And, if a power to construct post-office buildings exists, where is the restraint upon constructing roads? . 14 Footnote 229 U.S. at 316. It gives power to establish an uniform rule of naturalization and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies. See Act of 18th of October, 1782. 1137. Ry., 125 U.S. 465 (1888), Public Clearing House v. Coyne, 194 U.S. 497 (1904), Donaldson v. Read Magazine, 333 U.S. 178 (1948), Lewis Publishing Co. v. Morgan, 229 U.S. 288 (1913), United States ex rel. Besides; why may not congress purchase, or erect a post-office building, and buy the necessary land, if it be in their judgment advisable? According to Article I, section 8 of the US Constitution, " [The Congress shall have power] To establish Post Offices and Post Roads. The Constitution grants Congress "the Power to establish Post Offices and Post Roads." The Supreme Court has interpreted the post office clause broadly, holding that the language confers congressional power to determine what can and cannot be mailed, and enact federal laws criminalizing the use of the mail for certain purposes. New Orleans Saints Fan. The right to exact postage and to protect the post-offices and mails from robbery by punishing the offenders, may fairly be considered, as incidents to the grant, since, without it, the object of the grant might be defeated. It was continued, amended, and finally repealed, by a series of acts from 1792 to 1810; all of which acts have the same title, and the same provisions declaring certain roads to be post-roads. The Federalist, No. Already the post-office establishment realizes a revenue exceeding two millions of dollars, from which it defrays all its own expenses, and transmits mails in various directions over more than one hundred and twenty thousand miles. Does the federal government establish Post Offices? Co. v. Burleson, 255 U.S. 407, 437 (1921) (dissenting opinion): The United States may give up the Post Office when it sees fit, but while it carries it on the use of the mails is almost as much a part of free speech as the right to use our tongues. It has been truly said, that in a strict sense, this power is executed by the single act of making the establishment. Although it held this statute constitutional because the regulations whose infractions were thus penalized were themselves valid,22 FootnoteElectric Bond & Share Co. v. SEC, 303 U.S. 419 (1938). The power of establishing post roads must, in every view, be a harmless power . 1787: Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power "to establish Post Offices and post Roads." Over time, Congress greatly expands this limited role in transportation to include funding highways, urban transit, intercity rail, airports, and many other activities.1790s: Private toll roads start spreading across the states. Ill. 1855). Power to Establish Post Offices and Post-roads. Under the confederation, (art. If the United States possessed the power contended for under this grant, might they not, in adopting the roads of the individual states for the carriage of the mail, as has been done, assume jurisdiction over them, and preclude a right to interfere with or alter them? 4 Elliots Debates, 356. Amer. MCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. [The Congress shall have Power . The post-office establishment in its nature, and character, and purposes, was so generally deemed useful and convenient, and unexceptionable, that it was wholly unnecessary to expound its value, or enlarge upon its benefits. There is no such known sense of the word establish, as to direct, designate, or point out. And if there were, it does not follow, that a special or peculiar sense is to be given to the words, not conformable to their general meaning, unless that sense be required by the context, or, at least, better harmonizes with the subject matter, and objects of the power, than any other sense. If, then, the states may alter or discontinue their roads, or suffer them to go out of repair, is it not obvious, that the power to carry the mails may be retarded or defeated in a great measure by this constitutional exercise of state power? with the transportation of the mails, Congress could enter a valid compact with the State of Pennsylvania regarding the use and upkeep of the portion of the road lying in the state.2 FootnoteSearight v. Stokes, 44 U.S. (3 How.) The use of the existing road, by the stage, mail-carrier, or post-boy, in passing over it, as others do, is all, that would be thought of; the jurisdiction and soil remaining to the state, with a right in the state, or those authorized by its legislature, to change the road at pleasure. 1144. A History of the World's Roads and of the Vehicles that . Should post office be privatized? The whole practical course of the government upon this subject, from its first organization down to the present time, under every administration, has repudiated the strict and narrow construction of the words above mentioned.21 The power to establish post-offices and post-roads has never been understood to include no more, than the power to point out and designate post-offices and post-roads. The only effect would be, that the jurisdiction in such a case would not be exclusive. Ex parte Jackson, 96 U.S. 727, 733 (1878); United States v. van Leeuwen, 397 U.S. 249 (1970). . 22. They never go before it. Half a century later it was availed of as one of the grounds on which the national executive was conceded the right to enter the national courts and demand an injunction against the authors of any widespread disorder interfering with interstate commerce and the transmission of the mails.6 FootnoteIn re Debs, 158 U.S. 564, 599 (1895). 686 (No. If we go back to the origin of our settlements and institutions, and trace their progress down to the Revolution, we shall see, that it was in this sense and in none other, that the power was exercised by all our colonial governments. 6. If the power be to point out, or designate post-offices, then it supposes, that there already exist some offices, out of which a designation can be made. 1143. That would be to supersede all state authority over their own roads. 19,) to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, in the state of Maryland, to the state of Ohio. Both of these acts were passed in the administration of President Jefferson, who, it is well known, on other occasions maintained a strict construction of the constitution. 1131. the import of that term was enlarged, and with it the powers of the constitution, in a proportional degree, beyond what they were in the confederation. But passing by considerations of this nature, why does not the power to establish post-offices and post-roads include the power to make and construct them, when wanted, as well as the power to establish a navy-hospital, or a custom-house, a power to make and construct them? No one, accustomed to the retardations of the post in passing through independent states on the continent of Europe, can fail to appreciate the benefits of a power, which pervades the Union. If the practice of the government is, therefore, of any weight in giving a constitutional interpretation, it is in favour of the liberal interpretation of the clause. Postal Service, whose financial condition resembles that of the federal government, of which the USPS is another ailing appendage, is urging cancellation of Saturday deliveries . It brings the most distant places and persons, as it were, in contact with each other; and thus softens the anxieties, increases the enjoyments, and cheers the solitude of millions of hearts. 4 Elliots Debates, 354, 355. Under the confederation, this very power to establish post-offices was construed to include the other powers already named, and others far more remote. The number of Post Offices increased from 75 in 1790 to 28,498 in 1860. The question is, whether that is the true sense of the words, as used in the constitution. in which it struck down a statute authorizing the Post Office to detain mail it determined to be communist political propaganda and to forward it to the addressee only if he notified the Post Office he wanted to see it. Such, too, is the uniform progress of all societies. Thus, the Act of 20th of February, 1799, ch. It's far from a hot take, and has been discussed before. 29. If we were to ask any number of our most enlightened citizens, who had no connexion with public affairs, and whose minds were unprejudiced, what was the import of the word, establish, and the extent of the grant, which it controls, we do not think, that there would be any difference of opinion among them. Post roads increased from 59,473 miles at the beginning of 1819 to 84,860 by the end of 1823. - Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 8, Clause 7. But, suppose the state-roads do not furnish (as in point of fact they did not at the time of the adoption of the constitution, and as hereafter, for many exigencies of the government in times of war and otherwise, they may not) suitable routes for the mails, what is then to be done? Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub. 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