congressarchives:225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories hig
congressarchives:225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.On January 29, 1790, Mary Katherine Goddard sent the Senate a singular request: to be reinstated as postmistress of Baltimore. After running the post office for fourteen years, and paying post-riders with her own savings during the American Revolution, she was infuriated to lose her position. Especially when the stated reason was that “more traveling might be necessary” for the job “than a woman would undertake.” In her petition, Goddard accused the Postmaster General of dismissing her so he could give the lucrative title to his friend.Although more than 230 Baltimore citizens, including Maryland’s governor, signed her petition, the Senate did not reinstate her. For the remainder of her life, Goddard supported herself by running a bookshop. She passed away in 1816. Her final act was to free her slave, Belinda Starling, and leave the young woman everything she owned.Petition of Mary Katherine Goddard for Reinstatement as Postmaster of Baltimore, 1/29/1790, SEN 1A-G1, Records of the U.S. Senate -- source link
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