1840 Uniform Penny Postage

To trace the history of postage stamps in America, we must first take a trip to Great Britain. In 1837, a teacher named Rowland Hill published a pamphlet titled “Post Office Reform its Importance and Practicability”, which advocated for a postal service accessible to all, rather than just the upper class. Hill believed that mail should be sent prepaid and that postage rates should be determined based on weight rather than distance, an idea which was successfully implemented in December of 1839 with the introduction of the Uniform Fourpenny Post. Under this new law, a half-ounce letter sent between any two points in the United Kingdom would cost 4d, regardless of distance. Just 36 days later, on January 10, 1840, this rate was further reduced to one penny for one-ounce letters, and on May 6 of that same year the world’s first adhesive stamp—the Penny Black—was introduced to the world. The influence of Rowland Hill and his postal reform cannot be overstated and paved the way for the proliferation of the post in the United States.