Postal Power

AuthorStanley Siegel
Pages1970-1971

Page 1970

Seven words of Article I, section 8, of the Constitution grant the postal power to Congress. Under the power "To Establish Post Offices and Post Roads" liberally construed, Congress has built offices and constructed roads for handling the mails and maintained an extensive nationwide delivery service. Congress has vested in the Postal Service, now in corporate form, monopoly powers over the delivery of letters and extensive, though often untested, POLICE POWERS over the mails.

The postal system in the United States traces its roots to a 1692 crown patent to Thomas Neale by William and Mary, granting a monopoly of the colonial posts, including all profits therefrom. The Post Office was established on July 26, 1775, by the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS to assure effective communications and to eliminate what was viewed as a tax by the British Post Office. The ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION granted exclusive postal power to Congress, and the Constitution carried forward the congressional power over the mails.

At the time of the CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION the activities of the Post Office were widely accepted, and there was little sentiment for change or elaboration. Indeed, the postal power was virtually undebated, and only one reference to it is to be found in THE FEDERALIST. The breadth of the congressional interpretation of the postal power, therefore, finds neither support nor contradiction in the Constitution or the debates concerning its adoption.

The postal monopoly, contained in the so-called private express statutes, generally makes it unlawful for private carriers to carry letters and packets, unless postage has been paid thereon and canceled. This provision is, in effect, a 100 percent tax on the carrying of letters outside the Postal Service. The monopoly dates from colonial days, and it was and is justified on the economic grounds that it is necessary to retain monopoly power over profitable routes and services so that the Postal Service can provide uniform and inexpensive service nationwide, even along uneconomic and remote routes. The Articles of Confederation specifically granted the monopoly, giving the Congress "sole and exclusive power." The absence of these words in Article I, section 8, leaves the constitutionality of the monopoly unclear, but the few courts that have considered the question have held in its favor. Historically, monopoly had been an integral feature of the British and colonial postal systems...

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