The Virginia Gazette

Today in the 1770s: August 18

WILLIAMSBURG, August 18, 1775.
We congratulate the publick on there being soon to be established, throughout the united colonies, a safe, speedy, and reasonable CHANNEL of INTELLIGENCE, upon constitutional principles, under the direction of that unshaken patriot, the celebrated doctor FRANKLIN, who is appointed sole postmaster-general by the Continental Congress.

Virginia Gazette (Purdie) August 18, 1775
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About this entry:

Benjamin Franklin had served as Deputy Postmaster-General for North America along with Williamsburg's William Hunter, 1753-1761. He had been energetic in improving the colonial postal system and was a natural choice for the first postmaster of the new country.

Sources: Hunter, forward by Lester Cappon

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