Note 22 — Chapter II
Reading edition
Post-offices were often at a great distance from the person addressed, and it was often better to wait for some one traveling that way. Then, too, postage was high.
The "Historical Register" gives the following postage rates, 1810-1814. Every letter consisting of one sheet to go a distance less than 40 miles, 8 cents; 40 to 90 miles, 10 cents; 90 to 150 miles, 12-½ cents; 150 to 300 miles, 17 cents; 300 to 500 miles, 20 cents; over 500 miles, 25 cents. The rate was doubled, trebled and quadrupled as the number of sheets increased.