Bushels and Barrels to Meters and Liters

Bushels and Barrels to Meters and Liters

Did you know that a bushel of wheat is a different size than a bushel of cranberries? But they are both bushels. Did you know that a barrel of oil is a different size than a barrel of vinegar? Yet they are both barrels. The American system of measurement can be confusing and most people probably didn't even know a bushel existed. Or how much a bushel actually is. It is hard to believe but that is actually the system used by us Americans, known as the Imperial System. The Imperial System is an old system of measurement that the United States has been using since our initiation as a country. The great problem with our American culture today is that we have a certain attitude of "If it's not broken why try and fix it?" when there is a much better choice all along. The other choice is the Metric System which is a much better system of measurement for various reasons, one is that the Metric System uses one unit of measurement for each physical quantity. Like the physical quantity of Length. In the Imperial System you have units like, inch, foot, yard, mile, fathom, league. While the Metric System has only one unit for Length, which is the meter. Also the Metric System is easier to convert to other units like 1000 meters is a kilometer. The Imperial System has 5280 feet to 1 mile. It is time that we get rid of this old system and bring in the new. America should adopt the metric system because it is more efficient and also more useful for international affairs as we are one of the last countries to not use it. If we start now, we can make the United States a metric nation by 2013.

There are two main measuring systems in the world. Those measuring systems include: The Metric System, and The Imperial System. Where did these systems come from? The Imperial System was originally used in older times by the mother country of the United States, Britain. So in the early 1700's while the United States was beginning its journey into an independent country, it also supported this old form of measurement. But in the early 19th century we saw the beginnings of a new and more practical system called the Metric System, which was being developed in France. This system was widely accepted by countries such as Spain, Italy, France, and Latin Countries, while the United States and Britain were more reluctant to change their systems to this new system that the French made. While more and more countries started accepting the Metric System into their countries as an international measurement system the United States and Britain began reconsidering their initial ideas. While Britain made a "Weights and Measurements Act" trying to regularize existing British units of measure in 1824, it actually changed its mind in 1862 Parliament recommended the adoption of the Metric System with urgency and the "Treaty of the Metre" was established and finally signed in 1883 (Wiki 2011). But it wasn't until the late 1900's, around 1965 that Britain actually started a program of metrication, which helped to start an immense reaction on the other countries that used to be owned by the British like India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. In an article by Pat Naughtin, who is a speaker and system consultant for many worldwide companies, he stated that without the influence of early United States leaders there would be no metric system. He shows how Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson began their search for a great money system in America. At the same time Franklin and Jefferson were ambassadors to France where the Metric System was first created. Franklin was an ambassador from 1776 to 1784 while Jefferson was ambassador from 1784-1789(P Naughtin 2009). The U.S. form of money is based on a metric like system as we use hundredths in our cents and dollars, meaning that one cent means one hundredth of a dollar. While a 'cent'imeter means one hundredth of a meter. As we can see the Metric System has the same type of basis as our money system. The idea of the Metric System is something that is actually quite common to us but we just don't see it because we don't use it. Finally around 1890 a bill was presented to the U.S. Congress that would make the Metric System the official system of the United States, but it was not passed. The Grounds Cited were the cost and inconvenience of the change (Wiki 2011). From that point on countries continued their change from the old system to the new, leaving The United States in their wake of the old times

The United States is not alone in their fight against the Metric System. There are currently two other countries in the entire world that have not adopted the Metric System. The U.S. has teammates in this battle, and their teammates are Liberia and Mayanmar. While the other team has grown to about 98.5 percent of the world it seems that the battle is not going to last long, sooner or later they will realize it is much easier to work with the other countries than have all the other countries change for us. But why won't the United States just change already? William H. Barr, the President of the National Founder's Association gave his opinion on changing to Metric saying, "Our relations with the general trade and transportation are so intimate and so greatly influence the conduct of our own business that a dual system of weights