Skip to main content

Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse

by Richard R. John

76 Members (4.00) 2 Awards

On This Page

Recommendations

Author Information

Awards and Honors

Common Knowledge

Classifications

Description

This text tells the story of the communications revolution spurred by the American postal system and the challenge it posed for American business, politics and cultural life.

Tags

Recommendations

The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America by David M. Henkin

The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

David M. Henkin

The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers by Tom Standage

The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers

Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States by John Lauritz Larson

Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States

John Lauritz Larson

In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820 by David Waldstreicher

In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820

David Waldstreicher

Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer

Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America

David Hackett Fischer

Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century. by Glenn C. Altschuler

Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century.

Glenn C. Altschuler

Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications by Richard R. John

Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications

Richard R. John

The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff

The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789

Robert Middlekauff

The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln by Sean Wilentz

The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln

The Political Economy of American Industrialization, 1877-1900 by Richard Franklin Bensel

The Political Economy of American Industrialization, 1877-1900

Richard Franklin Bensel

The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 by Gordon S. Wood

The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787

What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe

What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848

Daniel Walker Howe

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815

"The Tyranny of Printers": Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic by Jeffrey L. Pasley

"The Tyranny of Printers": Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic

Jeffrey L. Pasley

The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government's Relations to Slavery by Don E. Fehrenbacher

The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government's Relations to Slavery

Don E. Fehrenbacher

Slavery and Politics in the Early American Republic by Matthew Mason

Slavery and Politics in the Early American Republic

Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War by Eric Foner

Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War

Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan

Understanding Media

Marshall McLuhan

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood

The Radicalism of the American Revolution

American Mobbing, 1828-1861: Toward Civil War by David Grimsted

American Mobbing, 1828-1861: Toward Civil War

The Missouri Compromise and Its Aftermath: Slavery and the Meaning of America by Robert Pierce Forbes

The Missouri Compromise and Its Aftermath: Slavery and the Meaning of America

Robert Pierce Forbes

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

Benedict Anderson

The Political Culture of the American Whigs by Daniel Walker Howe

The Political Culture of the American Whigs

Daniel Walker Howe

The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-1846 by Charles Grier Sellers

The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-1846

Charles Grier Sellers

The Americans: The Colonial Experience by Daniel Boorstin

The Americans: The Colonial Experience

Daniel Boorstin

Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life by Steven Deyle

Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life

The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin

The Americans: The National Experience

Daniel Boorstin

American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis by James Roger Sharp

American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis

James Roger Sharp

Everyday Life in Early America by David Freeman Hawke

Everyday Life in Early America

David Freeman Hawke

Yankee Leviathan: The Origins of Central State Authority in America, 1859-1877 by Richard Franklin Bensel

Yankee Leviathan: The Origins of Central State Authority in America, 1859-1877

Richard Franklin Bensel

Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class, 1788-1850 by Sean Wilentz

Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class, 1788-1850

Taming Democracy by Terry Bouton

Taming Democracy

A Revolution in Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State by Max M. Edling

A Revolution in Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State

The Fragile Fabric of Union : Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War by Brian D. Schoen

The Fragile Fabric of Union : Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War

Brian D. Schoen

The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800 by Stanley Elkins

The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800

The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture) by Van Gosse

The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)

The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity by Jill Lepore

The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity

The Middle Ground: Indian, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815 by Richard White

The Middle Ground: Indian, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815

The Political Crisis of the 1850s by Michael F. Holt

The Political Crisis of the 1850s

Michael F. Holt

American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia by Edmund S. Morgan

American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia

Edmund S. Morgan

Unfinished Revolution: The Early American Republic in a British World by Sam W. Haynes

Unfinished Revolution: The Early American Republic in a British World

American Colonies: The Settling of North America by Alan Taylor

American Colonies: The Settling of North America

Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid–Nineteenth Century. (The North's Civil War) by Jean H. Baker

Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid–Nineteenth Century. (The North's Civil War)

A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 by Paul E. Johnson

A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837

Paul E. Johnson

Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America by Ira Berlin

Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America

After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War by Gregory P. Downs

After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War

Gregory P. Downs

The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink by Kenneth M. Stampp

America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink

Kenneth M. Stampp

A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Complete Recommendations

Member Reviews

Featured Recent Thumbs

All Ratings
1
3
2

0 reviews

Ratings

jasonwdean 10 reviews

LaPopessaOregana

Polymath35 15 reviews

ScoutJ 320 reviews

Members

Recently Added By: harelear, Buchvogel, Ajenni21, liminallimulus, jasonwdean, dwaldenfisher, lastbookstore, Henry.Pole-Carew

Lists

Books in the Bibliography of Freethinkers by Susan Jacoby

155 works; 1 member

Author Information

Picture of author.

Richard R. John

7+ Works 158 Members

Richard R. John is Professor of History at Columbia University.

Awards and Honors

Awards

Allan Nevins Prize (1990)

Herman E. Krooss Prize for Best Dissertation in Business History (1990)

Common Knowledge

Canonical title: Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse
Original publication date: 1995
Important places: USA
Disambiguation notice: Full title (1995): Spreading the news : the American postal system from Franklin to Morse / Richard R. John; 1989 dissertation had title: "Spreading the ... (show all)Word: The Postal System and the Creation of American Society"

Statistics

Members: 76
Popularity: 403,711
Rating: (4.00)

Languages: English
Media: Paper, Ebook
ISBNs: 3
UPCs: 1

Quick Facts

Published: 1995
Genres: Nonfiction, History, General Nonfiction
DDC/MDS: 383.4973
LCC: HE6185 .U5 .J634

Author

Picture of author.

Richard R. John

7+ Works 158 Members

Popular Covers

Find It

Links

No links

Popularity

46%
60%
100%
96%
63%
13%
13%
50%
19%
30%
23%
54%
40%
17%

2009
2025

Ratings

Stars: (4.00)

Click to expand

Click to reduce

Helpers

Verdana Standard Verdana Small The Lorax System Standard System Large Georgia Large Text Atkinson