Today, I am thankful for the dying art of writing a letter and those brave souls who ensure its proper delivery.
In a recent book I read on the history of humanity, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, the author Yuval Noah Harari reiterates a point that many before him have also noted. What we learn about the past has often been hand selected by those who write the history books. In turn, historic accounts are often an incomplete account of the truth. As Winston Churchill once quipped, “History is written by the victors.” In other words, the interpretation of the events that previously transpired invariably reflects the beliefs of those who prevailed in society, usually after some military victory. The stories our ancestors pass down to us and the ones we propagate to our offspring are often filled with a myopic viewpoint of reality.
For this reason, true historians often rely on the original accounts from the stalwarts of the past. By going back to the source documents, historians can more accurately portray who really was the person we refer to as William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, or George Washington. To this end, historians often seek the truth of past titans through their own written accounts. Most of what we learn about these larger-than-life personalities from centuries ago comes from the letters they wrote to their loved ones, friends, acquaintances, and adversaries. By reading the words penned by the actual person, we can ascertain a more precise account of what an Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, or Abraham Lincoln really thought. In a recent historical account I read about Abraham Lincoln, Team of Rivals, the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin pieces together a masterful account of Lincoln’s presidential cabinet following a careful examination of the letters Lincoln and his counterparts – William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates – wrote to those around them. At that time, communication was almost entirely done through letters. Although telegraphs were in existence, those devices were few and reserved for official business. If Lincoln really wanted to know what William Seward thought about his draft of the inaugural address, he wrote a long letter to him. And, a week later, Seward would respond in kind. There was no phone, email, instant messenger, or texting. Rather, it was the power of the fountain pen and a few sheets of fine paper.
To achieve this goal, the United States needed an effective postal service. In the early 18th Century, the colonies lacked an efficient, effective, and consistent means to share information. Improvements in mailing routes and progress in delivery systems via horse-drawn carriage were made in the two decades prior to the American Revolution, courtesy of the postmaster of Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin. Appointed as one of two joint postmaster generals for the British throne in 1953, Franklin created an elaborate system to share letters, communications, and periodicals across the colonies through postal offices. The effort was still a piecemeal effort that required local attention to detail, so inefficiencies remained. Since Franklin had supported the colonial cause against King George III, the British fired him from his role in 1774. Recognizing that war with Britain was imminent and the colonial military leaders would need to be able to share information, the Second Continental Congress established the US Postal Service on this exact day (July 26) in 1775. And, who else was better to have as the first Postmaster General than the noble and respected statesman, Benjamin Franklin? The elder head of the Pennsylvania delegation developed such an efficient system to ensure the various colonial armies could communicate during the war effort that, after the war finally ended in 1783, the US Postal Service remained in existence. By the time the Constitution went into effect, nearly 75 postal offices were in place from Maine to Florida.
Today, the US Postal Service continues to deliver letters for those who still choose to use this means of communication. Now, with over 40,000 postal offices across the nation and its various territories, the US Postal Service delivers somewhere north of 200 billion pieces of mail annually, nearly 45% of the entire global output. As their motto goes, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed round.”
We often give the postal service endless grief for the occasional lost letter or mail delay, but I must admit I think it is fascinating that they can deliver as much as they do and as fast as they can. And, at 55 cents per letter, it’s still a bargain.
So, if you want to be remembered in history, keep writing letters because no future historian is going to bother to scroll through your inane texts.
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