View source for Lysander Spooner

===American Letter Mail Company===
Being an advocate of [[self-employment]] and opponent of government regulation of business, in 1844 Spooner started the [[American Letter Mail Company]], which competed with the [[United States Post Office]], whose rates were very high.<ref name="Cato">{{cite journal |last=Olds |first=Kelly B. |year=1995 |title=The Challenge To The U.S. Postal Monopoly, 1839–1851 |url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/1995/5/cj15n1-1.pdf |url-status=live |journal=[[Cato Journal]] |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |issn=0273-3072 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250514011457/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/1995/5/cj15n1-1.pdf |archive-date=2025-05-14}}</ref> It had offices in various cities, including [[Baltimore]], [[Philadelphia]] and New York City.<ref>{{cite book |last=McMaster |first=John Bach |author1-link=John Bach McMaster |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpeopleo0000john_s1h0/page/116/mode/1up |title=A History of the People of the United States, from the Revolution to the Civil War |date=1910 |publisher=[[D. Appleton and Company]] |isbn= |volume=VII 1841–1850 |location=New York |page=116 |chapter=LXXIII: The East in the Forties |access-date=2025-05-16 |via=[[The Internet Archive]]}}</ref> Stamps could be purchased and then attached to letters, which could be brought to any of its offices. From here, agents were dispatched who traveled on railroads and steamboats and carried the letters in handbags. Letters were transferred to messengers in the cities along the routes, who then delivered the letters to the addressees. This was a challenge to the Post Office's [[legal monopoly]].<ref name="Cato"/><ref>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/monopolymailpriv00adie/page/27 |title= Monopoly Mail: The Privatizing United States Postal Service |last= Adie |first= Douglas |year= 1989 |page= 27 |via= archive.org |access-date= }}<!-- quote="lysander spooner" "post office" monopoly. --> </ref>

As he had done when challenging the rules of the [[Massachusetts Bar Association]], Spooner published a [[pamphlet]] titled "The Unconstitutionality of the Laws of Congress Prohibiting Private Mails". Although Spooner had finally found commercial success with his mail company, legal challenges by the government eventually exhausted his financial resources. A law enacted in 1851 that strengthened the federal government's monopoly finally put him out of business. The legacy of Spooner's challenge to the postal service was the reduction in letter postage from 5¢ to 3¢, in response to the competition his company provided.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP3.htm |title= Spooner vs. U.S. Postal System |last= Goodyear |first= Lucille J. |date= January 1981 |website= [[American Legion Magazine]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121019155313/http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP3.htm |archive-date= October 19, 2012 |url-status= dead |via= lysanderspooner.org |access-date= October 25, 2012}}</ref>