2267. DOLLAR, Summary Review of measures.—
Congress as early as January 7,
1782, had turned their attention to the moneys
current in the several States, and had directed
the Financier, Robert Morris, to report to
them a table of rates at which the foreign
coins should be received at the treasury.
That officer, or rather his assistant, Gouverneur
Morris, answered them on the 15th, in
an able and elaborate statement of the denominations
of money current in the several
States, and of the comparative value of the
foreign coins chiefly in circulation with us,
He went into the consideration of the necessity
of establishing a standard of value with
us, and of the adoption of a money Unit. He
proposed for that Unit, such a fraction of
pure silver as would be a common measure
of the penny of every State, without leaving
a fraction. This common divisor he found
to be the 1-1440 of a dollar, or 1-1600 of the
crown sterling. The value of a dollar was,
therefore, to be expressed by 1440 units, and
of a crown by 1600; each Unit containing a
quarter of a grain of fine silver. Congress
turning again their attention to this subject
the following year, the Financier, by a letter
of April 30, 1783, further explained and urged
the Unit he had proposed; but nothing more
was done on it until the ensuing year, when it
was again taken up, and referred to a committee,
of which I was a member. The general
views of the Financier were sound, and the
principle was ingenious on which he proposed
to found his Unit; but it was too minute for
ordinary use, too laborious for computation,
either by the head or in figures. The price
of a loaf of bread, 1-20 of a dollar, would be
72 units. A pound of butter 1-5 of a dollar,
288 units. A horse or bullock of eighty dollars
value would require a notation of six
figures, to wit, 115,200, and the public debt,
suppose of eighty millions, would require
twelve figures, to wit, 115,200,000,000 units.
Such a system of money-arithmetic would be
entirely unmanageable for the common purposes
of Society. I propose, therefore, instead
of this, to adopt the Dollar as our Unit of account
and payment, and that its divisions and
sub-divisions should be in the decimal ratio.
I wrote some Notes on the subject, which I
submitted to the consideration of the Financier.
I received his answer and adherence to
his general system, only agreeing to take for
his Unit one hundred of those he first proposed,
so that a Dollar should be 14 40-100,
and a crown 16 units. I replied to this, and
printed my notes and reply on a flying sheet,
which I put into the hands of the members
of Congress for consideration, and the Committee
agreed to report on my principle. This
was adopted the ensuing year, and is the system
which now prevails.—
Autobiography. Washington ed. i, 52.
Ford ed., i, 73.
(1820)
See Money, Unit.
