The franking privilege, which allows Members of Congress to transmit mail matter under their signature without postage, has existed in the United States since colonial times. During the 18 th and 19 th centuries, the franking privilege served a fundamental democratic role, allowing Members of Congress to convey information to their constituents about the operations of government and policy matters before Congress. Conversely, it also provided a mechanism for citizens to communicate their feelings and concerns to Members (prior to 1873, Members could both send and receive mail under the frank). Congress has also occasionally granted the privilege to various executive branch officers and others. Although the rise of alternative methods of communication in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries have arguably reduced the democratic necessity of franking, Members of Congress continue today to use the frank to facilitate communication with their constituents. The franking privilege has carried an element of controversy throughout American history. During the 19 th century, the privilege was commonly attacked as financially wasteful and subject to widespread abuse through its use for other than official business. Although concerns about cost and abuse continued in the 20 th century, strong criticism of the franking privilege developed regarding the use of the frank as an influence in congressional elections and the perceived advantage it gives Members running for reelection. Contemporary critics of the franking privilege continue to express concerns about its cost and its effect on congressional elections. In attempting to balance a need for the franking privilege against charges of abuse, Congress has routinely amended the franking statutes. In general, the franking privileges granted at any time can be defined by five dimensions: who is entitled to frank mail, what is entitled to be franked, how much material can be sent, where the franked material can be sent, and when franked material can be sent. Changes to the franking privilege typically have not altered all of these dimensions, resulting in a variety of legislative arrangements of the privilege. Similarly, proposals for future changes may involve altering some, but not all, of these dimensions. Since 1789, Congress has statutorily altered the franking privilege numerous times. In addition, other bodies empowered to regulate congressional use of the frank—the House and Senate, the U.S. Postal Service, the House Administration Committee, the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and their predecessors—have exercised their authority to reform the governance of the franking privilege. The franking privilege has its roots in 17 th century Great Britain. The British House of Commons instituted it in 1660 and free mail was available to many officials under the colonial postal system. In 1775 the First Continental Congress passed legislation giving Members mailing privileges so they could communicate with their constituents, as well as giving free mailing privileges to soldiers. In 1782, under the Articles of Confederation, Congress granted Members of the Continental Congress, heads of various departments, and military officers the right to send and receive letters, packets, and dispatches under the frank. After the adoption of the Constitution, the First Congress passed legislation for the establishment of federal post offices, which contained language continuing the franking privilege as enacted under the Articles of Confederation. Under the Post Office Act of 1792, Members could send and receive under their frank all letters and packets up to two ounces in weight while Congress was in session. Subsequent legislation extended Member use of the frank to a specific number of days before and after a session, first by 10 days in 1810, then by 30 days in 1816, and finally to 60 days in 1825. The Act of 1825 also provided for the unlimited franking of newspapers and documents printed by Congress, regardless of weight. Scholarly work suggests that franked mail played an important role in national politics during the early 19 th century. Members mailed copies of acts, bills, government reports, and speeches, serving as a distributor for government information and a proxy for the then non-existent Washington press corps, providing local newspapers across the country with information on Washington politics. Because franking statutes allowed Members to both send and receive franked mail during much of the 19 th century, constituents could also mail letters to their Senators and Representatives for free. According to one scholar, Members spent up to three hours each day signing their names on envelopes, some Members franking up to 3,000 items daily when Congress was in session and occasionally hiring ghost-writers to sign their signature for them. This led one Member to describe the House of Representatives as a "bookbinder's shop." In 1845, Congress passed comprehensive franking legislation that instituted an accounting system, in which executive departments would pay for mail through general tax revenue, in hopes of easing the burden on the Post Office Department and reducing paid mail rates. Members of Congress continued to have their franking privilege paid for out of postal revenue. The accounting system was repealed in 1847 in favor of an annual appropriation to the Post Office Department to subsidize free and franked mail costs. After repeal of the accounting system, executive branch use of the frank reverted to the pre-1845 system. Popular perception of abuse of the franking privilege during the middle of the 19 th century led Congress to abolish the privilege in 1873. Members were provided with special stamps for official government communications, including responses to constituent letters, paid for out of the contingent funds of the House and Senate, but could not use free mail to contact constituents unsolicited. Over the following 22 years, the restrictions were gradually relaxed. In 1874, reduced postal rates for mailing the Congressional Record and bound public documents were approved. In 1875, Members were permitted to send printed speeches and reports for free under their frank, as well as seeds and agricultural reports. In 1891, Congress allowed Members to send mail under their frank to any officer of the federal government. Finally, in 1895, Congress restored the general right of Members to mail under the frank, including unsolicited mail to constituents. After the franking privilege was restored in 1895, Members were allowed to send (but no longer receive) "any mail matter to any Government official or to any person, correspondence, not exceeding one ounce in weight, upon official or departmental business." In 1904, the franking weight limit was raised to four ounces. In 1906, Congress explicitly prohibited the loan or use of the frank by anyone not legally entitled to use the frank, as well as use of the frank for the benefit of anyone not legally entitled to use it. In 1926, when the 69 th Congress consolidated and restated the general and permanent laws of the United States, both penalty mail and the franking privilege were placed in Title 39, the Postal Service. In 1953, in order to encourage fiscal responsibility and allow for more accurate financial management of the Post Office Department, Congress began reimbursing the Department for franking costs, which the Department would treat as revenue. In order to properly account for these costs, the Post Office Department also began systematic accounting of congressional franked mail costs. Beginning in 1961, Congress passed legislation that allowed Members to frank mail to "postal patrons," without a name or street address on the mailing. Strong objections to this policy, largely in the Senate, triggered a repeal in 1962. After a year of inter-chamber negotiation over such mailings, a compromise was reached: each chamber would handle "postal patron" mailings as it saw fit. That was the first instance of the House and Senate having different franking policies. The "postal patron" legislation also implicitly expanded the definition of "official business." Previously, a limited (albeit flexible) definition—including department documents to be forwarded and related correspondence—had been the common interpretation of the 1895 provisions. The House report accompanying the 1961 postal patron statute, however, suggested that the new law would help Members deliver "information on the issues pending before Congress" to their constituents. The nature of the postal patron provision meant that newsletters, questionnaires, and constituent reports might now be included in "official business." During this period, the Post Office Department was responsible for monitoring and regulating the use of free mailings. Post Office Department general counsel issued advisory opinions concerning use of the frank, and the Post Office Department attempted to collect postage due on mailings it found improper. Although the Post Office Department issued franking regulations, enforcement placed the Post Office in an awkward position, as an executive branch agency charged with monitoring the activities of Congress. In 1968, the Post Office Department stated that, although it would continue advisory opinions, "the final judge as to whether or not the franking privilege has been properly used must be the Congressman himself." In 1971, the Postal Service discontinued offering advisory opinions. With the Postal Service no longer offering advisory opinions, a series of lawsuits were brought in 1973 in response to alleged franking abuses by Members of Congress preceding the 1972 election, including a direct challenge to the constitutionality of the privilege. Some of the lawsuits contended that the franking statutes were being broken by Members of Congress; other lawsuits contended that the frank was unconstitutional because it gave incumbents an unfair advantage over challengers in congressional elections. In response to the legal challenges and a general sense that Congress was losing control over the franking privilege to judicial decisions, a new comprehensive franking statute was passed in 1973. It included tighter definitions of the types of mail eligible for the frank, prohibited Member mass mailings (defined as 500 or more pieces of substantially similar unsolicited mail) less than 28 days before primary and general elections in which the Member was a candidate for public office, and restricted the frankability of the Congressional Record to items that would be frankable if sent as letters. The statute created the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards ("Franking Commission") to oversee the use of the frank in the House, and designated the Senate Select Committee on Standards and Conduct to make routine decisions regarding the use of the frank by that chamber.