The "Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States" was a report submitted to the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
on July 13, 1790, by
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
.
At the
First United States Congress
The 1st United States Congress, comprising the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, met from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791, during the first two years of George Washington's presidency, first at Federal Hall in ...
, which met in 1789 when the decimal
metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the Decimal, decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in French Revolution, France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the d ...
had not yet been developed in France, the system of units to be used in the U.S. was one point of discussion. Under the Constitution (article I, section 8), the Congress has the constitutional right to decide on a standard of
weights and measures
A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multip ...
. On January 8, 1790,
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
urged Congress to address the need for the uniform system of weights and measures, and on January 15, 1790, the House of Representatives requested Thomas Jefferson to draw up a plan.
The decimal
dollar
Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...
had already been agreed upon in principle in 1785, but would not be implemented until after the enactment of the
Coinage Act of 1792
The Coinage Act of 1792 (also known as the Mint Act; officially: ''An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States''), passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, created the United States dollar as the countr ...
. After correspondence with
William Waring William Michael "Will" Waring is a camera operator and director, primarily for ''Stargate SG-1'' and ''Stargate Atlantis''.
He attended the Film Production course at the Theatre department of the University of British Columbia, where he developed th ...
and others, Jefferson proposed two systems of units in mid-1790. The first was evolutionary, and was based on refinement of the definitions of the units of the existing
English system
English units are the units of measurement used in England up to 1826 (when they were replaced by Imperial units), which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems of units. Various standards have applied to English units at ...
, as well as simplification of their relationship to each other. The second system was revolutionary, and was based on units linked by powers of ten, very similar to the decimal metric system which would be proposed in France. The base units for length, mass, and volume in Jefferson's revolutionary system (named the foot, the ounce, and the bushel, respectively) were relatively close in size to their pre-existing counterparts and bore identical names, although the manner in which they were defined was very different.
Jefferson's proposal was the world's first scientifically based, fully integrated, decimal system of weights and measures.
The seconds pendulum basis
In coordination with scientists in France, Jefferson selected the
seconds pendulum
A seconds pendulum is a pendulum whose period is precisely two seconds; one second for a swing in one direction and one second for the return swing, a frequency of 0.5 Hz.
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that ...
at 45° latitude as the basic reference. For technical reasons, he proposed using a uniform rod as the
pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the ...
rather than a traditional pendulum. The pendulum was estimated to be 39.14912 English inches long (which at that time was not yet defined to be exactly 25.4 mm, of course), or 1.5 times that for a vibrating rod (58.72368 inches).
More traditional proposal
In the evolutionary approach, the foot was to be derived from these lengths by a simple integer factor, which would be either three (pendulum) or five (rod), i.e. lengthening it from the traditional value of about 324 mm by slightly over 1 inch to ca. 331 mm or shortening it by about a quarter of an inch to ca. 298 mm. For practical purposes he wanted the rod to be 58¾ (new) inches long, an increase of less than 0.045%.
For the mass units, the ounce as a base would equal the weight of one thousandth of a cubic foot of rain water at standard temperature.
Although the
rundlet
The rundlet is an archaic unit-like size of wine casks once used in Britain. It was equivalent to about 68 litres. It used to be defined as 18 ''wine gallons''—one of several gallons then in use—before the adoption of the imperial system
...
is mentioned as an existing measure for liquids equivalent to a kilderkin, it was omitted from the list of redefinitions.
Decimal system based on the foot
Jefferson's proposed decimal system preceded the adoption in France of the decimal metric system, although both developed simultaneously. In France, the metre was to be defined as the ten-millionth part of an arc between the North Pole and the equator. Jefferson's system was based on the length of a rod oscillating seconds at 45 degrees latitude, with the foot defined as one fifth of the length of such a rod. Similar to the French system, Jefferson proposed a system of units linked directly by powers of ten. However, Jefferson's system did not make use of the concept of prefixes, which were of great importance in the French system. Instead, the names of old units were carried over into the new system for decimal multiples of the base units, giving them new values.
Asserting the value of such thorough reform to the existing system of weights and measures, the report stated:
The following table lists the units of the Jeffersonian decimal system, and their relationship with one another. The values of these units are based on Jefferson's proposal of a foot that was equal in length to one-fifth of a second rod, one fourth of an inch shorter than the foot in use at the time, and approximately equal to 0.298461684 m.
For the mass units, the ounce as a base would equal the weight of a cubic inch of pure water at standard temperature.
Th
transcript of the original documentgives the value of a kental as 16 stones at one point and 10 stones in another point. 10 was presumably the intended value, given the otherwise consistent decimalization.
Subsequent developments
Under the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
, Article 1 Section 8, Congress shall have power "To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures". In his first annual message to Congress (what later came to be called "
State of the Union Address
The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...
es") on January 8, 1790 (a few months before Jefferson's report to the House of Representatives),
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
stated, "Uniformity in the currency, weights, and measures of the United States is an object of great importance, and will, I am persed, be duly attended to."
Washington repeated similar calls for action in his second and third annual messages (after Jefferson's report). Jefferson's decimal proposal had the support of
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795.
Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...
,
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
,
James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
, and George Washington.
Robert Morris was a powerful opponent of the proposal.
In late 1791 the Senate appointed a committee to report on the subject and make recommendations. The committee reported in April 1792, unanimously endorsing Jefferson's decimal system. The Senate was slow to act on the matter and while they delayed events in France complicated the issue. Although French scientists working on a decimal system had originally supported using the seconds pendulum as a scientific basis, and Jefferson had deliberately matched his seconds pendulum proposal to the French one, based on a measurement at the latitude of Paris, the French decided to use the length of a
meridian of the Earth instead of a seconds pendulum. This and other developments changed what had promised to be an internationally developed system into a strictly French project. Jefferson wrote, "The element of measure adopted by the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
excludes, ''ipso facto'', every nation on earth from a communion of measurement with them."
The Senate continued to consider Jefferson's two proposals, along with a number of new proposals, for several years. In 1795 a bill titled "An Act directing certain experiments to be made to ascertain uniform standards of weights and measures for the United States" was passed by the House and was approved by committee in the Senate, but on the last day of the session the Senate said it would consider the bill during the next session. The bill was never taken up again. In 1795 the
Northwest Indian War
The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...
, which for years had prevented the surveying and sale of land in the
Northwest Territory
The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...
came to an end. A
land rush
A land run or land rush was an event in which previously restricted land of the United States was opened to homestead on a first-arrival basis. Lands were opened and sold first-come or by bid, or won by lottery, or by means other than a run. The ...
of settlers, surveyors, squatters, and others rapidly pushed into the region and the federal government had a sudden and intense need to establish a method for surveying and selling land. On May 18, 1796 Congress passed "an Act for the sale of land of the United States in the territory northwest of the River Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky River". This law defined a survey grid system of 6–mile–square
townships
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
divided into 1–mile–square
sections
Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea
* Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents
** Section sig ...
, with the defining unit being the
chain
A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...
, specifically
Gunter's chain
Gunter's chain (also known as Gunter’s measurement) is a distance measuring device used for surveying. It was designed and introduced in 1620 by English clergyman and mathematician Edmund Gunter (1581–1626). It enabled plots of land to be a ...
. This was the first unit of measurement designated into law by Congress. This law and the way it defined the survey grid ended debate over Jefferson's decimal system.
Origins
The proposal by William Waring from 30 January 1790
''A Plan for the Regulation of Weights & Measures, respectfully proposed to the Legislature of the United States''
/ref> was similarly decimalized as Jefferson's more radical proposal, but introduces many new names for units and its base is the equatorial seconds pendulum, i.e. determined at 0° not 45°, called ''pend'' or ''federal ell''. A ''federal gallon'' of 0.004 cubic pends, i.e. slightly less than 4 liters and thus similar in size to the English wine gallon A wine gallon is a unit of capacity that was used routinely in England as far back as the 14th century, and by statute under Queen Anne since 1707. Britain abandoned the wine gallon in 1826 when it adopted imperial units for measurement. The 1707 w ...
, is suggested as a more traditional base for liquid measures; and 9 such gallons, since almost equal to a Winchester bushel
A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an imperial and US customary unit of volume based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons, and was used mostly for agric ...
, or, more systematically, 10 gallons would form the base for dry measures. Inspired by the Avoirdupois system
The avoirdupois system (; abbreviated avdp.) is a measurement system of weights that uses pounds and ounces as units. It was first commonly used in the 13th century AD and was updated in 1959.
In 1959, by international agreement, the definiti ...
defining 1 cubic foot of water to weigh 1000 ounces of which there are 16 to the pound, Waring suggests a ''federal pound'' of half a cubic hand of water, which would be just short of 0.5 kg.
See also
* Approximate conversion of units
* Mesures usuelles Mesures usuelles (, ''customary measurements'') were a French system of measurement introduced by Napoleon I in 1812 to act as compromise between the metric system and traditional measurements. The system was restricted to use in the retail indust ...
* Metrication in the United States
Metrication (or metrification) is the process of introducing the International System of Units, also known as SI units or the metric system, to replace a jurisdiction's traditional measuring units. U.S. customary units have been defined in t ...
* Seconds pendulum
A seconds pendulum is a pendulum whose period is precisely two seconds; one second for a swing in one direction and one second for the return swing, a frequency of 0.5 Hz.
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that ...
* United States customary units
United States customary units form a system of measurement units commonly used in the United States and U.S. territories since being standardized and adopted in 1832. The United States customary system (USCS or USC) developed from English units ...
Notes
References
* ''The Writings of Thomas Jefferson'', Monticello Edition, Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904, Vol. 3 pp. 26–59.
Thomas Jefferson to House of Representatives, July 4, 1790, Report on Plan for Establishing a Uniform Currency, with Draft Copy
archived at Library of Congress
External links
*
Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States
', American State Papers
*
Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States
'
*
A metrication timeline that places the work of Thomas Jefferson in context
'
*
How Pirates Of The Caribbean Hijacked America's Metric System
' by Joe Palca for NPR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plan For Establishing Uniformity In The Coinage, Weights, And Measures Of The United States
1790 in the United States
Systems of units
Metrication in the United States
History of science and technology in the United States
Thomas Jefferson
Works by Thomas Jefferson