Background
He was born in 1785 in Edmonton, England. His parents brought him to America when he was a child and settled in Rhode Island.
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Barnabas Bates
Edit ProfileEducation
He was educated for the ministry, and in May 1814 was chosen pastor of the Baptist church in Bristol.
Career
A decided change in his views leading toward Unitarianism brought about, in 1818, a schism in his church, but though he is said to have been deposed from the ministry his faction retained the church edifice. He served a term as collector of the port of Bristol, continuing, however, to preach. On the completion of his term he was again nominated, but according to his statement, through the antagonism of a pro-slavery senator from his state the nomination was rejected by the Senate.
Because of the schism in his church in Bristol and because of his growing doubt that preaching should be a gainful occupation, he declined, during nearly the whole of the last five years of his pastorate, to accept pay, while out of his own funds he advanced to the church $2, 000, only a small part of which was ever returned to him. He left Bristol, probably about the end of 1824, and went to New York, where he opened a bookstore.
In January of the following year he started a small weekly journal, The Christian Inquirer, "devoted to the support of Free Inquiry, Religious Liberty and Rational Christianity. " It was carried on at considerable expense, for though it reached a total of 800 subscribers not many of them, it appears, felt called upon to pay for it. The issue for July 1, 1827, though partly set up, did not appear until April 2, 1828, when notice was given that the paper had been turned over to the Olive Branch. Bates had preached in some of the independent pulpits of the city, but in the final issue of his paper announced his retirement from the ministry.
For a time under the Jackson administration he was assistant postmaster of New York. Sir Rowland Hill's famous pamphlet on cheap postage, which appeared in 1837, influenced him greatly, and by 1839 he had become an active advocate of postal reform. His article, "Post-Office Reform - Cheap Postage, " in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine for March 1840, may well have been, as he asserts, the first argument published in America in behalf of the change. He also arranged the first public meeting in America to advance the cause. This meeting, held in New York, November 24, 1843, petitioned Congress for a flat rate of five cents an ounce, irrespective of distance, and an abolition of the franking privilege. Against great opposition, particularly from the postal authorities, the movement was carried on. A law reducing letter postage to five cents an ounce on distances not exceeding 300 miles, but charging ten cents on greater distances and greatly increasing the already burdensome rates on ocean postage, was signed by President Tyler on the day before he left office, March 3, 1845. It was unsatisfactory to the friends of postal reform, but the results of even the partial reduction of rates were encouraging, and at a meeting in New York on July 1, 1846, demands were made for a uniform rate of two cents an ounce.
The New York Cheap Postage Association, with Bates as corresponding secretary, was organized May 26, 1848, following the formation of a similar body in Boston, and renewed efforts were made to bring about further reductions. Bates had lived to see the first authorized issue of postage stamps, March 3, 1847; he was to see the compulsory prepayment of postage and the reduction of rates to three cents a half-ounce for distances under 3, 000 miles, but not to see any material reduction in the rates of ocean postage. He died on a visit to Boston, probably in connection with the work of his society.
Achievements
Membership
He is said to have become, about this time, a zealous Freemason.
