 The United States established the Constitution in 1787. There was no conception at that time that the different regions would remain in touch politically. There were any mechanisms other than the congressmen returning home. By 1792, big change. Newspapers would be admitted into the mail at very low cost. The infrastructure would be expanded to keep pace with population well in advance of any expected revenue generation. So it's been said that the post office created America in the sense that the circulation of information bound together a far-flung republic. And that role is distinctive, if you compare it, say, with Britain, France, well-developed infrastructure before post. Post in the United States, very distinctive. And the commitment was to the circulation of information to bind together disparate regions rather than the circulation of anything else. It was illegal to circulate books in the mail until 1851, and no parcels were circulated in the U.S. mail until 1913. The United States was one of the last of the major nations to admit parcels into the mail because of the commitment to facilitating the circulation of information, a civic mandate to bind the union together. The United States, in fact, was not only one of the first members of the U.P.U., but deserves credit for helping to promote the 1863 meeting in Paris that would eventually lead to the formation of the General Postal Union in 1874. Now, why 1863? United States wanted to project power on an international arena. It was in the midst of a terrible civil war. Supporting international postal communication was one way to do that. The Universal Postal Union, of course, established standards for international mail, which was important for immigrants, which was important for merchants, but it had a very low profile in the United States. It was rarely discussed in the newspapers. In fact, the role of the United States in the 1863 meeting almost entirely forgotten. First, it was forgotten because of the emphasis on the Germans, and then on the emphasis on universalism around the First World War. So in that sense, it's been a hidden hand in helping to facilitate movement of information, and eventually, though very, very reluctantly, the movement of goods. Parcel post in Europe was established in the early 1880s. No parcel post in the United States until 1913, and without the impetus of the U.P.U., it is possible that the United States might not have established parcel post till even later because there was intense opposition inside the country to that extension and the mandate of the post office.