Measuring America: How the United States Was Shaped by the Greatest Land Sale in History
Author:
Genre: History
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genre: History
Book Type: Paperback
You know how you go to buy something---whether it is land or groceries or alcohol or floor coverings---and you don't think twice about the quantity it is measured in? Well, not anymore for me.
This book was fascinating and I learned so much. The United States really didn't have a stable unit of measurement system until 1857, and even then it wasn't perfect. Other counties used, dropped, picked up again other measurement systems over their existence and still don't have it all the same way.
In many ways we still use the metric system and the old English system today, and the mistakes caused by confusing the two can be very costly.
The need by numerous countries to establish a single satisfactory system of measurement was always difficult. At one time, in England there were over 100,000 different ways of measuring items in existence. Even in the early United States what measurement you used often depended upon whether you were the buyer of seller, and the farmer who produced the goods often got screwed.
And why is it that most of the world is using metric, but we don't. Well, it all might come down to how we value land as property. And to learn why you need to read the book.
All of which reminds me of an old joke as to why God meant for us to use the old English system of measurement and not the metric system. It all makes sense if you think about it. There were 12 apostles, not 10. :-)
This book was fascinating and I learned so much. The United States really didn't have a stable unit of measurement system until 1857, and even then it wasn't perfect. Other counties used, dropped, picked up again other measurement systems over their existence and still don't have it all the same way.
In many ways we still use the metric system and the old English system today, and the mistakes caused by confusing the two can be very costly.
The need by numerous countries to establish a single satisfactory system of measurement was always difficult. At one time, in England there were over 100,000 different ways of measuring items in existence. Even in the early United States what measurement you used often depended upon whether you were the buyer of seller, and the farmer who produced the goods often got screwed.
And why is it that most of the world is using metric, but we don't. Well, it all might come down to how we value land as property. And to learn why you need to read the book.
All of which reminds me of an old joke as to why God meant for us to use the old English system of measurement and not the metric system. It all makes sense if you think about it. There were 12 apostles, not 10. :-)
