Article I — Section 8

Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government lacked any explicit authority to establish or regulate postal communications across the states. The Continental Congress had operated a postal system inherited from the colonial era — Benjamin Franklin had served as the first Postmaster General under the Continental Congress in 1775 — but this arrangement rested on ad hoc authority rather than a firm constitutional foundation. The framers recognized that reliable, uniform communication across a geographically large republic was essential to commerce, governance, and national cohesion. A patchwork of state-controlled postal routes would fragment the flow of information, impede trade, and undermine the very unity the new Constitution was designed to create.