On this day in 1776, Congress chooses Richard Bache to succeed his father-in-law,Benjamin Franklin, as postmaster general. Franklin had sailed for France on behalf of the Continental Congress the previous month.
Benjamin Franklin invested nearly 40 years in the establishment of a reliable system of private communications in the American colonies. He was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737 and then as joint postmaster general of the colonies, a position he held from 1753 to 1774, when he was fired for opening and publishing MassachusettsRoyal Governor Thomas Hutchinson's correspondence. While postmaster, Franklin streamlined postal delivery with properly surveyed and marked routes from Maine toFlorida (this route later became Route 1), instituted overnight postal travel between the critical cities of New York and Philadelphia and created a standardized rate chart based upon weight and distance.
In 1774, Franklin's baton was passed temporarily to William Goddard, a printer. Goddard was frustrated that the royal postal service was unable to reliably deliver hisPennsylvania Chronicle to its readers or critical news for the paper to him. Thus, he laid out a plan for a "Constitutional Post" before the Continental Congress on October 5, 1774.
Read more at : http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/post-office-stays-in-the-franklin-family
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