Privacy of Public Knowledge

"The Post office was a primary center of the governments intelligence
operations, with it's own espionage agents and deciphering branch. It's
'secret
offices' monitored foreign diplomats, domestic dissenters, and even
government's
own ministers, keeping the king and the governments inner
circle apprised of
intrigues and disaffection" (Starr, Pg. 95)

Britain's postal service was known to open and view mail that was being sent from person to person. When people moved across the Atlantic Ocean to a new land they didn't know what to expect. When America set up their own postal system they had decided not to read the mail, but they would read it is the letter never reached it's destination. Even though the roots of America come from Britain, the early postal system is an example of how our country developed on it's own.