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7 Brit. J. Am. Legal Stud. 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/bjamles7 and id is 1 raw text is: DE GRUYTER OPEN Br. J. Am. Leg. Studies 7(1) (2018), DOI: 10.2478/bjals-2018-0001 FOUNDING-ERA SOCIALISM: THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF THE CONSTITUTION'S POSTAL CLAUSE Robert G. Natelson* ABSTRACT The Constitution 's Postal Clause granted Congress power to establish Post Offices and post Roads. This Article examines founding-era legal and historical materials to determine the original meaning and scope of the Postal Clause. It concludes that the Clause authorized Congress to pass all legislation necessary to create, operate, and regulate a unified transportation, freight, and courier system, although it also limited congressional authority in some respects. The founding-era reasons for the postal system were revenue, promotion of commerce, and political control. The Article also corrects some inaccurate claims about the Clause previously advanced by commentators. KEYWORDS Postal Clause; Post Roads; Original Meaning U.S. Constitution; Benjamin Franklin; British Royal Post Office. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........... 5 A. The Anomalous Character of the Postal Clause........ ............. 5 B. This Article's Structure and Method .......... ............... 6 I. BACKGROUND HISTORY: THE BRITISH IMPERIAL POSTAGE SYSTEM....................7 A. Why British Practice is Relevant................7............7 B. The English Beginnings ................8.... ............8 C. Vocabulary and Operations of the British Postal System.....................9 * Professor of Law (ret.), The University of Montana; Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence, the Independence Institute, Denver, Colorado; Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence, Montana Policy Institute, Bozeman, Montana. Some of the author's observations about business practices derive from his private sector experience. The author acknowledges these individuals who helped make this article possible: Jonathan Miceli, Sturm College of Law, University of Denver (J.D. 2018), for research assistance; Virginia Dunn, Archives and Library Reference Service Manager, and Cassandra Farrell, Senior Map Archivist, both at the Library of Virginia; Professor David Kopel, Sturm College of Law, the University of Denver and Research Director of the Independence Institute, for his continued support; Dr. Anne Richardson Oakes for helpful editing and support; and Elizabeth J. Natelson, for her careful editing. | 1111© 2018 Robert G. Natelson, published by De Gruyter Open. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

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