US Stamp Collection

Any U.S. stamp collection would benefit from stamps issued in the 1860s. After South Carolina seceded from the Union in 1860, followed by a slew of other Southern states, chaos reigned throughout the U.S. The U.S. Post Offices, in particular, had to accommodate for the fact that several major printing centers were located south of the Mason-Dixon line.The newly formed Confederate States of America developed its own postal system to handle mail delivery. At first, the C.S.A. relied on old Union stamps, but political pressure forced the government to institute a new stamp service as soon as possible. The Confederate States of America issued stamps honoring Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Jefferson Davis, and John C. Calhoun.Meanwhile, the United States of America was busy fighting a war and trying to raise money. The U.S. Postal Service hit upon a plan to tax bulk shipments of newspapers using what became known as ''newspaper stamps.'' These stamps cost a lot of money to purchase, and the men who sold them to traders throughout the Midwestern states often had to carry weapons to protect themselves against robbers. There are many collectors who focus solely on newspaper stamps for their U.S. stamp collections. Following the Civil War era, the reunited United States began offering more and more postal services, such as rural free delivery in 1896. In 1873, the USPS introduced ''postcards,'' a promotion which quickly became wildly popular. Postcard sales gathered tremendous revenue for the recently depleted U.S. Treasury. Given the hectic nature of the 1860s, stamp errors, misprints, and discolorations from this time period abound and make wonderful additions to any U.S. stamp collection.