letters were fixed as follows:--

Distance. Rate.[154]

Not exceeding 60 miles 1 dwt. 8 gr.
Exceeding 60 miles, not exceeding 100 miles 2 " 0 "
Exceeding 100 miles, not exceeding 200 miles 2 " 16 "

And so on, advancing 16 grains for every hundred miles.

For all letters for or from Europe by packet or despatch vessels, the
charge was 4 dwt. The rates were doubled for double letters; trebled for
treble letters; and a packet weighing an ounce was charged equal to four
single letters, and in that proportion if a greater weight. In the event
of a surplus of Post Office revenue over expenses, the
Postmaster-General was required to pay the amount to the Treasurer of
the United States "until the sums of money heretofore advanced by the
United States for the support of the General Post Office, with the
interest thereon at 6 per cent. per annum," should be repaid, after
which any such surplus was to be devoted to the establishment of new
post offices or other improvements of the service. If the necessary
expenses were found to exceed the revenue, the excess was to be paid to
the Postmaster-General by the Treasurer of the United States.[155] Cross
posts were farmed in much the same way as the cross posts and bye posts
had been farmed in England,[156] and the farmers were bound by contract
not to charge rates in excess of those fixed by the ordinance.[157]

After the adoption of the Constitution an Act of the Constitutional
Congress became necessary. The President, in recommending to Congress
the provision of the Post Office and post roads on a liberal and
comprehensive scale, referred to the political importance of such a
service as aiding the diffusion of a knowledge of the laws and
proceedings of the Government,[158] a consideration which was paramount
in determining the attitude of the United States Government towards the
posts. It was held to be a first duty of the Government to afford every
possible means for the dissemination of intelligence--general
intelligence for the information and education of the people, and more
especially political intelligence for the education of the people as
citizens of the Republic. They were making, it was their legitimate
boast, a tremendous experiment in politics. They were essaying to
demonstrate to the world whether a people had the genius to govern
itself, whether democracy and the republic were abstr