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FIRST U. S' POSTAGE STAMPS ISSUED
July 1, 181+7 5# Franklin and 10£ Washington
COULD BE PRE-PAY OR COLLECT BASED
ON MILEAGE — MOST PEOPLE SENT
COLLECT
"The Great Mall - a Postal History of Nev Orleans"
by Leonard	V. Huber & Clarence	A. Wagner - 19^9
-	American Philatelic	Society, Inc.
t>. lOU
On July 1, I8U7, the United States government issued its first postage stamps.
These stamps, the 5^ Franklin and the 10<£ Washington, marked the beginning of the modern era in mail handling.
At this time, the sender of a letter could send it by pre-paying the postage or by sending it collect. A complicated system of rates for various distances together vith the custom of charging by t he sheet made the handling of the mail a slow and tedious task. It was no wonder that the post office was always jam-ned with people because it took a long time to wait on each one.
More letters came collect than were prepaid, a custom Khtz that was vexatious, not to say expensive, to the receiver.
The postaee stamp and the method of using it was the result of the postal	reforms of a brilliant	Englishman, Rowland	Hill,	who
had	succeeded	in	getting his country	to adopt the plan	some	seven
years.before (in IS^O).
While use of the new U. S. Stamps was at first not compulsory, a quantity of them was sent to New Orleans.
P* ^	h.	giveslijfji
The Postal Act of March 3, 1851, reduced the postage rate to 30 on letters if prepaid although still allowing mail to be sent unprepaid at 5(£.
Bay January 1, 1856. the use of stamps to prepay letters was made mandatory. (p. 17*0