History of United States Postage Stamps
Though the history of United States postage stamps
began in 1847, postage stamps were actually first adopted in Britain
and Ireland in 1840. The subsequent use of postage stamps in the United
States revolutionized the American mail industry.
Prior to the
use of stamps, private mail services in the U.S. were extremely
inefficient. Many mail carriers did not charge the sender for mail
service, but instead charged the recipient. The result was that many
people were incapable or unwilling to pay fees in regards to mail, and
the poorly financed mail services had little ability to improve their
services or take better care not to lose their mail. However, federal
law in 1847 established postage stamps as the official way of paying
for mail, making the sender responsible for paying for mail. Initially,
stamps were sold in either five or ten cent varieties, the former with
a red engraving of Benjamin Franklin and the latter with a black engraving of George Washington. Almost immediately, the sale of stamps was a triumph and resulted in a profit for the post office.
Though the earliest postage stamps were printed by private companies, in 1894 the Bureau of Engraving and Printing,
Treasury Department was given the responsibility of printing stamps.
This federal bureau is still responsible for printing stamps today. The
base price of a letter in the latter half of the 19th century up to
midway through the 20th century was three cents. During this time, a
number of new figures and American symbols made their way onto stamps,
including Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Columbus, and the U.S. flag.
The history of United States postage stamps in the latter half of the
20th century was highlighted by the mass introduction of self-adhesive stamps in 1989.
Perhaps the most interesting event in the recent history of United States postage stamps was the development of the Forever stamp
in 2007, which allowed people to buy a stamp which was acceptable alone
forever despite any potential change in the price of stamps. The first
set of Forever stamps went on sale for 41 cents. Today, many people
collect stamps, and the value of old postage stamps,
especially rare stamps, is quite high. If you would like to discuss the
history of United States postage stamps with others, please register and participate in the CollectStampsandPostcards.com forum.
