Campbell, James

Life Span
to
    Full name
    James Campbell
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    2
    Family
    Anthony Campbell (father), Catherine McGarvey (mother), Emilie S. Chapron (wife, 1845)
    Occupation
    Politician
    Attorney or Judge
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Church or Religious Denomination
    Catholic (Roman or Irish)
    Political Parties
    Democratic
    Government
    Pierce Administration (1853-57)
    State judge
    Other state government

    James Campbell (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Campbell was determined that his [post office] department would be both efficient and self-supporting. To those ends, he terminated ineffectual postmasters, discontinued excessively expensive mail routes, fined delinquent contractors, and overhauled the department's accounting system. To Congress, Campbell proposed rate increases, the discontinuance of congressionally mandated discounts, and even the abolition of the franking privilege. He appeared indifferent to the fact that these initiatives offended powerful interests.

    Among Campbell's innovations were the introduction of prestamped envelopes, perforated sheets of stamps to replace printed sheets, and the registry system for the shipment of valuables through the mails. The registry system, which held the individual postmaster responsible for any valuables handled, was a significant innovation that, in its essentials, has survived to the present.

    Under Campbell's direction, postal service improved and expanded, but the department did not become self-supporting. Those affected by his cost-cutting measures resisted them, and Congress declined to enact the measures proposed. To his keen disappointment, annual subsidies continued throughout his tenure.
    John F. Coleman, "Campbell, James," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00197.html.
    How to Cite This Page: "Campbell, James," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/21379.