The following are notable post roads in Canada and the U.S.
Canada Chemin du Roy was built between
Montreal (
Repentigny) and
Quebec City from 1731 to 1737, for mail and as a means of travel for the key settlements in
New France/
Lower Canada. It was later incorporated as
Quebec Route 2 and is now part of
Quebec Route 138. Two notable post roads built in the late 1700s and early 1800s were
Dundas Road (The Governor's Road) and
Kingston Road (Lakeshore Road or York Road) to provide a route for mail and
stagecoaches between key settlements in
Upper Canada. The latter route, which became The Provincial Highway in 1917 (
Ontario Highway 2 c. 1923), and the former which became a Dundas Highway in 1920 (
Ontario Highway 5 in 1925), were the beginning of the provincial highway system in
Ontario.
United States In what was to later become the United States, post roads developed as the primary method of communicating information across and between the colonies. The
Articles of Confederation authorized the national government to create post offices, but not post roads. Adoption of the
U.S. Constitution changed this, as
Article I, Section Eight, known as the
Postal Clause, specifically authorizes Congress the
enumerated power "to establish post offices and post roads". This was often interpreted to include all public highways.
U.S. Supreme Court justice
Joseph Story defended the broad interpretation that had become dominant in his influential
Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833). on the
Boston Post Road Notable American post roads built for the purpose include: •
Albany Post Road, which connects New York City to
Albany, the capital of New York State •
Boston Post Road, which traverses New England from New York City to Boston, Massachusetts •
White Plains Post Road, the southernmost section of
New York State Route 22, known as the White Plains Post Road in the 18th and 19th centuries, was a major highway connecting New York City to
White Plains,
Westchester's
county seat. == References ==