Postage stamps and postal history of the United States a precondition for their issue by a nation was the establishment of standardized rates for delivery throughout the country. If postal fees were to remain (as they were in many lands) a patchwork of many different jurisdictional rates, the use of stamps would only produce limited gains in efficiency, for postal clerks would still have to spend time calculating the rates on many letters: only then would senders know how much postage to put on them. The introduction of postage stamps in the UK in May 1840 was received with great interest in the United States (and around the world).
Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps a bust of Washington by sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon. At the start of the 20th century, George Washington continued to be the most prominent subject depicted on the face of U.S. postage stamps. Washington would remain the most prevalent figure on U.S. postage for most of the 20th century. Only Benjamin Franklin is second to Washington, in part because Franklin is depicted on the numerous denominations of the Washington–Franklin series almost as often as Washington. Ironically, George Washington did not appear on a "commemorative" issue until 1925 when he was featured on a commemorating another historical event. The Washington–Franklin Issues