Q 01/05

Who was appointed the first postmaster general by the Continental Congress?

A) Benjamin Franklin

B) Thomas Jefferson

C) Alexander Hamilton

D) Samuel Adams

Answer · why

A) Benjamin Franklin

He had already run the colonial mails for the Crown before the Revolution gave him a new employer.

Q 02/05

In which city did the Second Continental Congress found the post office in 1775?

A) Boston

B) Philadelphia

C) New York City

D) Williamsburg

Answer · why

B) Philadelphia

Printers and journalists pushed hardest for it, wanting cheap delivery of their newspapers.

Q 03/05

Which 1792 law, signed by George Washington, created the Post Office Department?

A) The Post Roads Act

B) The Federal Mail Delivery Act

C) The Postal Service Act

D) The Postal Clause Act

Answer · why

C) The Postal Service Act

It charged newspapers an extremely low rate and guaranteed the privacy of personal letters.

Q 04/05

What power does the Constitution's Postal Clause grant Congress?

A) To print and sell postage stamps nationwide

B) To appoint every local postmaster

C) To tax letters and parcels

D) To establish post offices and post roads

Answer · why

D) To establish post offices and post roads

The clause was meant both to knit the states together and to raise revenue for the new government.

Q 05/05

In what year did the USPS replace the Post Office Department as an independent agency?

A) 1971

B) 1952

C) 1958

D) 1964

Answer · why

A) 1971

The Postal Reorganization Act was signed in August 1970 and took effect the following July.