President:
Abraham Lincoln · Postmaster General:
Montgomery Blair
Admitted to the Union: West Virginia on June 20, 1863 |
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Postage Rates:
Prior to 1863 letters were
dropped off at post offices or street mail boxes,
available since 1858 according to the USPS. The
addressee was required to pick up the letter from
the post office to which it was ultimately
delivered. In some of the larger cities, for
a small fee of usually one or two cents, the letter
could
be delivered (carried) to the street address of
the addressee, hence the "carrier"
service and the "carrier stamp". In 1863,
for the first time, free
delivery to the street address was made available
in 49 of the largest cities in the U.S. Over time
many more cities instituted this "free
delivery", something which we take for
granted today. However, it wasn't until 1896 that
the first free rural deliveries were instituted on
a trial basis in West Virginia. Over time, RFD, or
rural free delivery, became an important part of
the U.S. Postal Service and is taken for
granted today, as well.
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The following rates applied from Mar. 31,
1855 to June 30, 1863 |
| Domestic Letter Rate East of the Rockies per
1/2 oz.: Three Cents |
| Domestic Letter Rate crossing the Rockies
per 1/2 oz.: Ten Cents |
| Foreign Letter Rate under 2500 mi. per 1/2 oz.: Ten Cents - except where otherwise adjusted by
treaty |
| Foreign Letter Rate over 2500 mi. per 1/2 oz.:
20¢ - except where otherwise adjusted by
treaty |
| Rate for Drop Letters: One Cent |
| Rate for Newspapers and Circulars up to 3
oz.: One Cent, with one cent for each additional oz. |
| Carrier Fee (not available in all cities):
One Cent - this service was abolished on July 1, 1863 |
| Registry Fee: 5¢ (no return
receipt to sender) - Paid in cash |
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The following rates began on July 1, 1863 (Act of March 3,
1863) |
| Domestic Letter Rate Regardless of Distance
per 1/2 oz.: Three Cents |
| Foreign Letter Rate under 2500 mi. per 1/2 oz.: Ten Cents - except where otherwise adjusted by
treaty |
| Foreign Letter Rate over 2500 mi. per 1/2 oz.:
20¢ - except where otherwise adjusted by
treaty |
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Carrier Fee within Larger Cities: Free
- Carriers were no longer paid per letter, postal employees
were salaried to act as "carriers". Thus was born
the U.S. mailman as we know them today - although, according
to Webster's, the term mailman first came to use in
1881.
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Rate for Drop Letters per 1/2 oz.: Two Cents
The rate was raised from one cent to two cents and
weight was now a factor.
The rate was changed back to one cent in May of 1865.
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Rate for Newspapers and
Circulars up to 4 oz.: Two Cents
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Registry Fee : 20¢ - with return
receipt to sender, paid in cash
Although the jump from five cents to twenty cents in the
registry fee may seem steep, it was a necessity. Postmasters
had complained that the extra time and effort needed to
handle the registered letters was not covered by the five
cent fee. Postmaster General Blair petitioned Congress to
raise this rate to twenty cents, along with many other
sweeping changes and Congress complied with most of them.
The registry fee was to be paid with money and not with
stamps. Thus a registered letter from the early 1860's will
not have the added postage for the registry fee in the form
of additional stamps on the envelope, making the identification of a registered
letter from this period sometimes difficult. The Act of 1863
also stated that the word "REGISTERED" should be clearly
stamped on the face of the letter, although this was often
not done, again making identification difficult. Not until
June of 1867 was the registration fee to be paid in stamps. |
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