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The first real postal system in the English colonies was begun under a royal patent in 1692. The system worked reasonably well, with weekly mail service among several cities from New Castle, Delaware, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but it was not a profitable venture. Letters carried “outside the mails” provided competition that reduced the system’s revenues. In 1707, the Crown bought back the patent and took control of the colonial postal system, appointing a succession of postmasters general during the next 68 years.