ABSTRACT
Upon being appointed postmaster general of the United States of America in 1782, Ebenezer Hazard designed a seal for the burgeoning postal service. Hazard, a classicist and a Greek scholar, chose as the symbol of the post office the Roman god Mercury, the messenger of the gods and patron of commerce and travel. Mercury was the god of thieves and deception, which was not lost on Postmaster Hazard when designing the seal for the nascent post office. His years as surveyor general of post roads during the War for Independence taught Hazard that subterfuge and the ability to escape detection were qualities enabling the post rider to evade capture, like a thief in the night. Hazard, as a postal official in a rebellion against the most powerful empire in the world, had to be particularly careful. Objects and ideas had pseudonyms as well in the correspondence of Belknap, Hazard and friends.
