1834 Andrew Jackson - Abuse of the Franking Privilege

In 1789 The First Congress granted themselves the privilege of sending mail by one's signature rather than by postage. Franking privileges as it was called was quite common and dated back to the seventeenth century English House of Commons.  In addition to Congress, the privileges were also granted to the president and his cabinet.  Despite, the need to carefully inscribe their name on the upper right-hand corner of letters and packages, the practice generated a lot of business for the post office.  So much business that by 1834, one post master in Alabama, 800 miles from sat of the Government complained that almost 600 pounds of mail was passing through his office weekly, six times what it was in 1829, and all of it had to be delivered on horseback.  According to the Post Masters, the cause of this was an expansion in 1833 of the franking privileges to new Congressman 60 days before their new session and old Congressman up until the next session after they leave.

In his 1834 report, the Postmaster General, Honorable William T. Barry reported to President Jackson that the extensions of the franking privileges to Congress had been "a most prolific cause of increase in the business of the department".  Barry estimated that because of the expansion, the number of members with Franking privileges had grown to more than 375 and asked President Jackson, "Ought not some consideration to be made in favor of the Department in bearing up against this extraordinary enlargement of its burthens?" In those days, other than letters published in newspapers, the mail was the most efficient way to get a message out to a Congressman's constituents including quite often, campaign messages. Franking privileges gave incumbent senators and representatives a significant advantage and they made the best of it.  Between campaigning and general abuse of the system, they generated a lot of business for the Post office. There had been talk of it for years, but according to the Postmaster General, he no longer had to rely on conjecture. He now had solid evidence of the negative impact of Congressional franking privileges on his department in the form of letters from his post masters to back him up.  

• From a Post Master in Alabama: "That the extension of the franking privilege has greatly injured the revenues of the Department, cannot be doubted by any one conversant with its operations. Even at this distance, more than eight hundred miles from the Seat of the Government, the effect is quite perceptible ... In the year 1829, I was frequently in the office of an assistant of the Postmaster.  The mails on the principle routes then arrived at, and left it, but once a week, and on horseback. I think they weighed, on an average about one hundred pounds. The quantity of matter passing this office weekly is now, I am persuaded, about six times as great as the quantity that passed through it during the same period in 1829."

• From a Post Master in Louisiana, speaking of one officer of Government:  "He was in the habit at one time of sending stockings, handkerchiefs, vests, and other articles of clothing through the mail, to his children at this place, which caused considerable noise at the time"

• From a Post Master at Richmond Virginia:  "I have no doubt but the extension of the franking privilege has greatly curtailed the revenue of the Department ... when I first attended to this office in 1826, there were a mere handful; but there is now a large chain bag, and always a linen bag and sometimes two. I should say the mail was now four times as large as it was in 1829."

• From the Postmaster at Philadelphia: "The free matter sent to this office has increased to nearly double the quantity within the last two years. Under the present laws extending the privilege to members of Congress during the whole year and o members elect sixty days prior to the session, and to old members up to the session of a new Congress, it is manifest that the amount of free letters and other free matter transported by mail is increased at least in a twofold-ratio"

President Andrew Jackson used the Post Master's report to explain why, despite a record amount of revenue the Post Office had yet "fallen short of the estimates more than $100,000".  Jackson blamed this revenue shortfall on "the increase of free letters growing out of the extension and abuse of the franking privilege". Jackson saw it as a direct effect of an act passed by Congress in 1833 that expanded the time frame new and old Congressional members could use the privileges. Jackson reminded Congress that their constituents "who ask no exclusive privileges for themselves and are not willing to concede them to others".  In other words, regular folks were angry that Congress was abusing a privilege that was exclusive to them.  Jackson urged Congress in his 1834 State of the Union Address to give this serious attention.

"It will be observed that the revenues of the Post Office Department, though they have increased, and their amount is above that of any former year, have yet fallen short of the estimates more than $100,000. This is attributed in a great degree to the increase of free letters growing out of the extension and abuse of the franking privilege. There has been a gradual increase in the number of executive offices to which it has been granted, and by an act passed in 1833-03, it was extended to members of Congress throughout the whole year. It is believed that a revision of the laws relative to the franking privilege, with some enactments to enforce more rigidly the restrictions under which it is granted, would operate beneficially to the country, by enabling the Department at an earlier period to restore the mail facilities that have been withdrawn, and to extend them more widely, as the growing settlements of the country may require.

To a measure so important to the Government and so just to our constituents, who ask no exclusive privileges for themselves and are not willing to concede them to others, I earnestly recommend the serious attention of Congress."

Congress, rather than rescind their own privileges extended it in 1834 to governors of states for books and other items. It was not until 1872, when the Republican Party responded to charges of abuse added a demand to eliminate franking privileges in their platform. On January 31, 1873, the Senate voted to abolish the congressional franking privilege.

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. 2020. Sixth Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/sixth-annual-message-2> [Accessed 17 June 2020].

Senate.gov. 2020. U.S. Senate: Senate Ends Franked Mail Privilege. [online] Available at: <https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Senate_Ends_Franked_Mail_Priviledge.htm> [Accessed 17 June 2020].

Smith, F., n.d. A Letter Relating To The Administration And Present Condition Of The Post Office Department Of The United States Under The Hon. William T. Barry, Postmaster General. pp.17-20.