The American Letter Mail Company was started by Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner was an American individualist anarchist, political philosopher, Deist, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement, legal theorist, and entrepreneur of the nineteenth century. He is also known for competing with the U.S...

 in 1844, competing with the legal monopoly

Legal monopoly

A legal monopoly, statutory monopoly, or de jure monopoly is a monopoly that is protected by law from competition. A statutory monopoly may take the form of a government monopoly where the state owns the particular means of production or government-granted monopoly where a private interest is...

 of the United States Post Office (USPO) (now the USPS

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

) in violation of the Private Express Statutes

Private Express Statutes

The Private Express Statutes are a group of United States federal civil and criminal laws placing various restrictions on the carriage and delivery of letters by all organizations other than the United States Postal Service.-History:...

. It succeeded in delivering mail for lower prices, but the U.S. Government challenged Spooner with legal measures, eventually forcing him to cease operations in 1851.

Overview

According to McMaster, the company had offices in various cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. Stamps could be purchased and then attached to letters which could be sent to any of its offices. From there agents were dispatched who travelled on railroads and steamboats, and carried the letters in hand bags. Letters were transferred to messengers in the cities along the routes who then delivered the letters to the addressees.

Competition with the U.S. Post Office Department

Spooner's intentions were founded on both an ethical perspective, as he considered government monopoly to be an immoral restriction, and an economic analysis, as he believed that five cents was sufficient to send mail throughout the country. The American Letter Mail Company was able to reduce the price of its stamps significantly and even offered free local delivery, significantly undercutting the 12-cent stamp being sold by the Post Office Department. Although the business was forced by the U.S. Government to close shop after only a few years, it succeeded in temporarily driving down the cost of government delivered mail.

External links

• J.R. Greene, Stamp-ing Around
• Sherman Lee Pompey, "Father of 3-cent Stamp" Spooner fought Post Office
• Lucille J. Goodyear, Spooner vs. U.S. Postal System
• Who Caused the Reduction of Postage? Ought He to be Paid? by Lysander Spooner
• The Post Office and Private Mail Service 19th century individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker
  Benjamin Tucker
  Benjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...
  
  opposes USPS monopoly