People of Agency

Ep. 1 - Signed, Sealed, Delivered (to Treason)

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What if the real glue holding America together isn't laws or leaders, but the mail? In the premiere episode of People of Agency, Aileen and Maia kick off their deep dive into U.S. Postal Service history by exploring its revolutionary origins. Before independence, before the Constitution, the Continental Congress established the Post Office, making it older than America itself. From Benjamin Franklin's efficiency obsession and William Goddard's colonial tech-bro energy, to the remarkable Mary Katharine Goddard printing the Declaration of Independence with all the signers' names (a potential death warrant), this episode reveals how the mail became democracy's secret weapon. But this isn't a sanitized origin story. Aileen and Maia confront the brutal contradictions baked into the foundation: postal roads built on stolen Indigenous trails, revolutionary ideals funded by enslaved labor, and a system that promised connection while enforcing exclusion. It's a story of genuine innovation and profound injustice, visionary courage and devastating hypocrisy, and it's more relevant today than ever as billionaires and politicians work to dismantle what remains of this public good.

Key takeaways to listen for

  • [00:00:00] Introduction - Meet the Hosts
  • [00:04:22] Act I - A Communications Revolution: How British mail censorship threatened colonial organizing, Benjamin Franklin's efficiency revolution that united the colonies, and the brutal truth about postal roads built on stolen Indigenous trails
  • [00:17:28] Act II - The Post of the Revolution – and the Woman Who Held It Together: Meet Mary Katharine Goddard, the overlooked older sister who became one of America's first female government officials, ran a revolutionary newspaper and Baltimore's post office simultaneously, and faced down sexist demands to speak to the "real" postmaster
  • [00:30:40] Act III - Independence Inked: Mary's risky printing of the Declaration with all signers' names exposed, the wartime innovations she pioneered including home delivery, and the devastating contradiction of her enslaving Belinda Starling while fighting for American freedom
  • [00:42:02] Act IV - Connecting a Nation: Then and Now: Why USPS gets zero taxpayer funding but is legally required to serve everyone, how billion-dollar corporations exploit the Postal Service to reach unprofitable customers, and why protecting public institutions matters more than ever in our algorithm-driven age
  • [00:52:27] Credits and Acknowledgements

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    Ready to explore how ordinary people built extraordinary public institutions? Subscribe to People of Agency wherever you listen to podcasts. Find us on social media @Peopleof_Agency. Have stories about how the mail shaped your community, or thoughts on protecting public services? We'd love to hear from you! [email protected]

    Quotes:

    • "Control the mail, and you control the flow of information." - Aileen
    • "We're seeing powerful interests treat public service as a nuisance, something in the way of profit. Tech companies think algorithms can replace genuine community." - Maia
    • "He's giving early Elon Musk energy. Obsessed with disruption, allergic to oversight, convinced he alone can save the day, massive ego." - Aileen (on William Goddard)
    • "How do you plan a revolution when your enemy is reading your mail?" - Maia
    • "I served my country while it was struggling for liberty. Why am I now denied mine?" - Mary Katharine Goddard (quoted by Aileen)
    • "Mary Katharine Goddard, from overlooked older sister to revolutionary superstar. Take notes, William." - Maia
    • "It's too easy to look at history as either all good or all bad, but that kind of binary thinking doesn't help us understand what's happening today." - Aileen

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      #PeopleOfAgency #USPSHistory #PostalService #AmericanHistory #MaryKatharineGoddard #BenjaminFranklin #RevolutionaryWar #DeclarationOfIndependence #PublicInstitutions #DemocracyHistory #IndigenousHistory #AileenDay #MaiaWarner #WomenInHistory #ColonialAmerica #SaveUSPS #PostOffice #InfrastructureHistory #MailCarriers #ContinentalCongress #HistoryPodcast #PublicService #CivicEducation #InstitutionalHistory #SocialJustice #HistoricalComplexity #StagecoachMary #FoundingEra #EnslavedHistory #FeministHistory

      Credits 

      People of Agency is created and written by Aileen Day, with additional writing by Maia Warner-Langenbahn. It is hosted by Aileen Day and Maia Warner-Langenbahn. This episode was edited by the amazing Kelsi Rupersburg-Day. Our beautiful cover art is by Sam Woodring. 

      Sources

      Here are some of our other sources (use the tab function to review different episodes). How the Post Office Created America, by Winifred Gallagher, served as a significant guiding light for this project. Many of our sources were pulled from online Smithsonian resources and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Thank you to our anonymous Historian fact checker who reviewed many of our scripts and provided invaluable feedback. 

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