If, like me, you're curious about this, here are some interesting links: http://lfb.org/thomas-jefferson-used-encryption/ http://lfb.org/thomas-jefferson-used-

If, like me, you're curious about this, here are some interesting links: http://lfb.org/thomas-jefferson-used-encryption/ http://lfb.org/thomas-jefferson-used-encryption/ https://books.google.com/books?id=xI_Um3dTTeYC&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=office+of+foreign+affairs+1785+resolution+inspect+mail&source=bl&ots=iWJeWslQel&sig=3TehrLIRW5VjYiPu4o3a0wlBIX8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDEQ6AEwA2oVChMIoInNhaahxwIVUQWSCh09swAc#v=onepage&q=office%20of%20foreign%20affairs%201785%20resolution%20inspect%20mail&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=xI_Um3dTTeYC&pg=PA176&lpg=... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_disk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_disk I might post on /r/AskHistorians about this 1785 Continental Congress resolution. Everyone, including Ludlow, seems to quote Unmailable rather than referring directly to source material, and I haven't been able to find any kind of archive of pre-Constitutional law (which might have a copy of the actual resolution in it). In any case, that the government of the time was tampering with long distance communications, i.e., postal mail, with the express purpose of interfering with political discourse should serve as a reminder to everyone to be ever vigilant when some public servant or politician proposes to weaken safeguards against the same.