Bradley Postal Map, 1796 (hand-coloured engraving)

1796 Postal Route Map. Abraham Bradley, Jr. created this and other maps while working for the Post Office. Bradley made his name as the office’s authority on postal routes and schedules, many of which he devised himself. Bradley published this map barely fifteen years after the War of Independence had ended. Most citizens of the fledgling United States could not conceive of the magnitude of the new nation and searched for a national culture and identity after the final and official separation from Great Britain. These maps, displayed in almost every large post office, showed the public a consolidated country with national borders.