Note 272 — Chapter III · The Power of Congress to Establish Postroads

12 Stat. L. 205. See Blackham v. Gresham, 16 Fed. Rep. 609 (1883), and U. S. v. Kochersperger, 26 Fed. Cas. 803 (1860), where it was said: “The public streets of a municipal town over which the mail may be carried in any of the routes established by Congress as postroads, are doubtless, postroads for the passage of the mail. Whether the streets of such a town can be established by Congress as postroads for any other purpose is questionable.... So far as the prohibition of private letter carrying within the limits of such a town may be concerned, the legislative power which is wanting under the head of postroads, may, perhaps, be incidental to the execution of the power to establish postoffices. If this be so, the point may be of little ultimate practical importance.” Blackham v. Gresham upheld the act of 1861.