¹An interesting point to make here is the United States did get something right when they designed their monetary system of dollars and cents. This is essentially a metric system of measurement, with 100 cents per dollar. The founders of the USA wisely decided to avoid the utterly confusing denominations of the British, with their pounds, pence, farthings, shillings, etc. The denominations of penny, dime, dollar, and eagle ($10 gold coin) comprised a simple power-of-ten system for money. Credit goes to France for first adopting a metric system of general weights and measures as their national standard.