1844 5c American Letter Mail Co., Black, Thin Paper (2nd Printing)

Own a Genuine 1844 Letter Delivered By Private Mail Company

This envelope was stamped with a local stamp issued by the American Letter Mail Co. What a unique piece of US postal history! And you can add it to your collection.

Scott #5L1 is a 5-cent black local stamp on thin, black paper issued in 1844 by The American Letter Mail Company. The beautifully engraved design centers on a bold American eagle in flight surrounded by the company name — a design that projected confidence and patriotism for a company openly challenging the federal government.

The American Letter Mail Company was founded in January 1844 by Lysander Spooner — a self-educated Massachusetts lawyer, abolitionist, and political philosopher who believed the government's monopoly on mail delivery was both unconstitutional and unjust. At the time, it cost as much as 25 cents to send a letter from Boston to Washington, DC. Spooner launched his company with offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, delivering letters twice daily between New York and Philadelphia for just 6¼ cents per half ounce — stamps sold at 20 for a dollar. His operation was an immediate success, and the government's postal revenues dropped sharply in response.

The federal government fought back aggressively. Spooner and his agents were arrested multiple times, and railroads were pressured to refuse his carriers’ passage. Yet the legal challenges were far from clear-cut. A US Circuit Court even expressed doubt that the government had the constitutional right to monopolize mail delivery. The competition was so effective that it forced the Post Office to dramatically lower its own rates, eventually adopting the 3-cent stamp. Congress finally shut Spooner down for good in 1851 by legislating a full postal monopoly. The stamps he left behind are rare pieces of American postal and political history.