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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Susan Haigh

From Benjamin Franklin to Pony Express to anthrax: How the US Postal Service shaped a nation

Postal Service 250 - (Copyright 2025 the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

The one government agency that still reaches nearly every American daily — undeterred by rain, sleet, snow or even gloom of night — turns 250 on Saturday.

Established in 1775, when the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general, the postal service predates the United States. It was launched nearly a year before the colonies declared their break from British rule.

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