LEADER 03949nam 2200625Ia 450 001 9910813532503321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-674-03914-9 024 7 $a10.4159/9780674039148 035 $a(CKB)1000000000787143 035 $a(StDuBDS)AH24023349 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000250193 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11194177 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000250193 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10231166 035 $a(PQKB)10530773 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3300251 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10314261 035 $a(OCoLC)923109890 035 $a(DE-B1597)574618 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674039148 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3300251 035 $a(OCoLC)1294423709 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000787143 100 $a19950512d1995 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aSpreading the news $ethe American postal system from Franklin to Morse /$fRichard R. John 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aCambridge, MA $cHarvard University Press$d1995 215 $a1 online resource (384p.) 300 $aOriginally published: 1995. 311 $a0-674-83338-4 311 $a0-674-83342-2 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 343-356) and index. 327 $aPreface Acknowledgments The Postal System as an Agent of Change The Communications Revolution Completing the Network The Imagined Community The Invasion of the Sacred The Wellspring of Democracy The Interdiction of Dissent Conclusion Abbreviations Notes Sources Index 330 $aThis text tells the story of the communications revolution spurred by the American postal system and the challenge it posed for American business, politics and cultural life. 330 $bIn the seven decades from its establishment in 1775 to the commercialization of the electric telegraph in 1844, the American postal system spurred a communications revolution no less far-reaching than the subsequent revolutions associated with the telegraph, telephone, and computer. This book tells the story of that revolution and the challenge it posed for American business, politics, and cultural life. During the early republic, the postal system was widely hailed as one of the most important institutions of the day. No other institution had the capacity to transmit such a large volume of information on a regular basis over such an enormous geographical expanse. The stagecoaches and postriders who conveyed the mail were virtually synonymous with speed. In the United States, the unimpeded transmission of information has long been hailed as a positive good. In few other countries has informational mobility been such a cherished ideal. Richard John shows how postal policy can help explain this state of affairs. He discusses its influence on the development of such information-intensive institutions as the national market, the voluntary association, and the mass party. He traces its consequences for ordinary Americans, including women, blacks, and the poor. In a broader sense, he shows how the postal system worked to create a national society out of a loose union of confederated states. This exploration of the role of the postal system in American public life provides a fresh perspective not only on an important but neglected chapter in American history, but also on the origins of some of the most distinctive features of American life today. 517 3 $aAmerican postal system from Franklin to Morse 606 $aPostal service$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aCommunication and traffic 615 0$aPostal service$xHistory. 615 0$aCommunication and traffic. 676 $a383.4973 700 $aJohn$b Richard R.$f1959-$01618785 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910813532503321 996 $aSpreading the news$93970241 997 $aUNINA