to establish post offices and post roads
Roads may, indeed, be said to he coeval with settlements. Such is a summary of the principal reasoning on each side of this much contested question. Besides; why may not congress purchase, or erect a post-office building, and buy the necessary land, if it be in their judgment advisable? Today's Postal Service is an independent agency that funds its operation through the sale of postage, products and services. 1127. 1141. 79d, 79e. First, Congress is given the explicit power to, by law, create, form, establish post offices across the country and a notable addition that the founders felt was important, to establish post roads across the country created with the purpose of transferring the mail. It would be inconvenient for congress to assemble in a place, where it had not exclusive jurisdiction. United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Assn's. with the transportation of the mails, Congress could enter a valid compact with the State of Pennsylvania regarding the use and upkeep of the portion of the road lying in the state.2 FootnoteSearight v. Stokes, 44 U.S. (3 How.) But, as in other areas, postal censorship systems must contain procedural guarantees sufficient to ensure prompt resolution of disputes about the character of allegedly objectionable material consistently with the First Amendment.20 FootnoteBlount v. Rizzi, 400 U.S. 410 (1971). as it chooses. 12 FootnotePub. Much more to prohibit any other persons under penalties from conveying letters, despatches, or other packets from one place to another of the United States? Ill. 1855), Searight v. Stokes, 44 U.S. (3 How.) It never entered into the heads of the wise men of those days, that they possessed a power to create post-offices, without the power to create all the other things necessary to make post-offices of some human use. Power to Prevent Harmful Use of Postal Facilities. 1135. Article One, Section Eight charges Congress with the power "to establish Post Offices and Post Roads," and . It might with just as much propriety be urged, that, because congress had not hitherto used a particular means to execute any other given power, therefore it could not now do it. 686 (No. There is no one, who will doubt the importance of the best post-road in that direction; (the nearest between the two cities;) and yet it is obvious, that the nation alone can be justly called upon to provide the road. 1, p. 649, &c.) an account of the post-office establishment, during the revolution and before the constitution was adopted. Is not a power to establish courts a power to create, and make, and regulate them? Post offices were few and far between. When the Constitution was ratified in 1789, the Postal Clause in Article I, Section 8 gave Congress the power "To establish Post Offices and post Roads" and "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper" for executing this task. There are about 2,500 companies that construct toll . Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to "establish Post Offices and post Roads." . To establish the constitution is to make, and fix, and erect it, as a permanent form of government. Before post offices existed, most people had two options for delivering a letter. Would it not be a strange construction to say, that the abstract office might be created, but not the officina, or place, where it could be exercised? It was thought necessary to insert an express provision in the constitution, enabling the government to exercise jurisdiction over ten miles square for a seat of government, and of such places, as should be ceded by the states for forts, arsenals, and other similar purposes. The U.S. Constitution, in 1789, authorized Congress to establish "Post Offices and post Roads" but, unlike the Articles of Confederation, did not explicitly establish an exclusive monopoly . The truth is, that congress have hitherto acted under the power to a very limited extent only; and will forever continue to do so from principles of public policy and economy, except in cases of an extraordinary nature. Noting that supplying postal facilities is by no means an indispensable adjunct to a civil government, the Court held that the legislative body in thus establishing a postal service may annex such conditions . In Mr. . 23 Footnote 303 U.S. at 442. See Rawle on the Constitution, ch. See United States Postal Serv. 8. Aware of the difficulties attendant upon this extremely strict construction, another has been attempted, which is more liberal, but which it has been thought (as will be hereafter seen) to surrender the substance of the argument. Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub. But surely it will not be pretended, that congress could not erect a fort, or magazine, in a place within a state, unless the state should cede the territory. A learned commentator deems it concurrent, inasmuch as there seems nothing in the constitution, or in the nature of the thing itself, which may not be exercised by both governments at the same time, without prejudice or interference; but subordinate, because, whenever any power is expressly granted to congress, it is to be taken for granted, that it is not to be contravened by the authority of any particular state. But whatever be the extent of the power, narrow or large, there will still remain another inquiry, whether it is an exclusive power, or concurrent in the states. Lafourche Parish. . In the early days, the mail was delivered via horseback or stagecoach along postal roads to local post offices. . Where is the power given to acquire it? If the United States possessed the power contended for under this grant, might they not, in adopting the roads of the individual states for the carriage of the mail, as has been done, assume jurisdiction over them, and preclude a right to interfere with or alter them? The general course has been to designate merely the towns, between which the mails shall be carried, without ascertaining the particular roads at all. The question is, whether that is the true sense of the words, as used in the constitution. The first act passed by congress, in 1799, is entitled an act to establish post-offices and post-roads. The first section of this act established many post-offices as well as post-roads. See Sergeant on Const. At the adoption of the constitution there is not the slightest evidence, that a different arrangement, as to the limits of the power, was contemplated. Noting Lysander Spooner's argument that "the federal postal monopoly exceeded the grant of power given to Congress in Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 ' [t]o establish Post Offices and post Roads'" and that "the constitutional grant of power to establish post offices and post roads is narrower than the power given . By the act of 21st of April, 1806, (ch. . To establish post offices and post roads; To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries; To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; In every part of the Union in which stages can be preferred, the roads are sufficiently good, provided those, which serve for every other purpose, will accommodate them. The object is the transportation of the mail throughout the United States, which may be done on horse-back, and was so done, until lately, since the establishment of stages. Black. 686 (No. The 1792 act reinforced the power of Congress to establish official mail routes. In each case, the sense of the ruling term establish would seem to be the same; in each, the power may be carried into effect by means short of constructing, or purchasing the things authorized. The fact, if true, that congress have not hitherto made any roads for the carrying of the mall, would not affect the right, or touch the question. Plainly, because constitutions of government are not instruments to be scrutinized, and weighed, upon metaphysical or grammatical niceties. More about the Saudi-Iran Deal Saudi Arabia and Iran, represented by their national security advisers, signed agreement in Beijing, China, to re-establish diplomatic ties, respect each other's . etc. And if any, for what other purpose, than to enable congress to lay out and make roads?19, 1130. If not, then the power to carry the mails may be obstructed; nay, may be annihilated by the neglect of a state.22 Could it have been the intention of the constitution, in the exercise of this most vital power, to make it dependent upon the will, or the pleasure of the states? The meaning of ESTABLISH is to institute (something, such as a law) permanently by enactment or agreement. ; Websters Dict. It is probable, that the constitution intended nothing more by this provision, than to enable congress to do by law, without consulting the states, what in Europe can be done only by treaty or compact. Besides; upon this narrow construction, what becomes of the power itself? Clause 7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads; Clause 8: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; Clause 9: To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; These roads traced routes that became great highways and are still known as the post roads. Power to Protect the Mails. The debate on the question was terminated in 1876 by the decision in Kohl v. United States,3 Footnote91 U.S. 367 (1876). Nothing, which tends to facilitate the intercourse between the states, can be deemed unworthy of the public care.1 One cannot but feel, at the present time, an inclination to smile at the guarded caution of these expressions, and the hesitating avowal of the importance of the power. 41,) the president was authorized to cause to be opened a road from the frontier of Georgia, on the route from Athens to New-Orleans; and to cause to be opened a road or roads through the territory, then lately ceded by the Indians to the United States, from the river Mississippi to the Ohio, and to the former Indian boundary line, which was established by the treaty of Greenville; and to cause to be opened a road from Nashville, in the state of Tennessee, to Natchez, in the Mississippi territory. In Article I, Section 8, Congress is given the right "to establish Post Offices and Post Roads." Now, nearly 230 years later, the United States Postal Service remains an invaluable independent agency of the federal governmentand the subject of one particularly note-worthy museum. And here, if ever, the rule of interpretation, which requires us to look at the nature of the instrument, and the objects of the power, as a national power, in order to expound its meaning, must come into operation. But it may be asked, if such was the intention, why were not all the other terms of the grant transferred with it? The authority is therein given to congress of establishing rules in cases of captures; of establishing courts of appeal in cases of capture; and, what is directly in point, of establishing and regulating post-offices. Lysander Spooner justified his business to the public in his 1844 pamphlet, "The Unconstitutionality of the Laws of Congress, Prohibiting Private Mails": He argued that although the Constitution granted Congress the power to "establish post offices and post roads," this only gave Congress the authority to create a postal service, not to . 1136. . 16114) (C.C.N.D. . ] It may be said with some plausibility, that the right to carry the mail, and to punish those, who rob it, is not indispensably necessary to the establishment of a post-office and a post-road. Nothing which tends to facilitate the intercourse between the States, can be deemed unworthy of the public care. The post-office establishment in its nature, and character, and purposes, was so generally deemed useful and convenient, and unexceptionable, that it was wholly unnecessary to expound its value, or enlarge upon its benefits. The question, therefore, is, what power is granted by that word? A History of the World's Roads and of the Vehicles that . The power to appropriate federal funds is known as the . This right is indeed essential to the beneficial exercise of the power; but not indispensably necessary to its existence.20. It is plain, that to construe the word in any of these cases, as equivalent to designate, or point out, would be absolutely absurd. POST ROADS POST ROADS. E) Exclusive powers. See Rawle on the Constitution, ch. We are not now looking to what are properly incidents, or means to carry into effect given powers; but are to construe the terms of an express power. 265. Today, the U.S. It was continued, amended, and finally repealed, by a series of acts from 1792 to 1810; all of which acts have the same title, and the same provisions declaring certain roads to be post-roads. This narrow construction, what power is granted by that word, for other. Congress, in 1799, is, whether that is the true sense of the power ; but not necessary. 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