The Internal Colonial Postal Union carried official and commercial mail until around the 1740s. Then ‘war drums’ of liberty began to sound in the distance.  In 1774, Benjamin Franklin who had been appointed joint Postmaster General with William Hunter, was dismissed from his position in because of his revolutionary activities. But when the British turned him out, the Continental Congress took him in.  Franklin was named Postmaster General for the newly formed United Colonies Post.