20 February 1792: First US postal service begins

America's postal service, then known as the United States Postal Office, began making its rounds on this day in 1792.

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The precursor to the inbox in late 19th century America

In 1691, Thomas Neale was given a21-year concession to develop a national postal service for colonial America, named the North American Postal Service. He established a few offices, but the organisation was taken over by the British government when his monopoly expired, and the focus was then put on international mail.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

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