Statute.

The Post Office Act of 1792 was an important step in creating a national political community. While Americans had enjoyed a postal service under the British government, the U.S. Post Office, created in 1792, greatly expanded the federal government's role in communications. In 1790 there was one post office for every 43,084 Americans. Ten years later one post office served every 4,876 Americans, and by 1820 each post office served fewer than two thousand citizens. This was four times the rate of service enjoyed in England, and nearly twenty times the service of France. The Post Office would not only carry the mail: it also carried newspapers and subsidized stagecoach lines throughout the country, bringing the distant parts of the United States into closer contact.

Exchanging Newspapers.

Printers traditionally shared copies of their newspapers with each other. In this way news could be transmitted from one part...