November 7

[On November 7, 1786, while serving under the weak Articles of Confederation as Minister to France, I wrote from Paris to Monsieur du Rival, a French official inquiring about our currency, to counter European press fables by clarifying that specific metal ratios remain undecided despite Congress adopting the Spanish dollar last year. This brief diplomatic update captures the precise moment we laid the decimal foundation for the modern global economy, showcasing my efforts to project stability to a skeptical Europe while our home government stalled in executing the system.]

I am honored with your letter of the 1st instant, enclosing inquiries on the subject of the coins of the United States. Some time during the last year, Congress decided that the Spanish milled dollar should be their money unit, and that their coins should be in a decimal progression above or below that. Some intermediate coins will also be doubtless made for convenience, and indeed they determined that their smallest copper coin should be the two-hundredth part of a dollar. They did not determine how much pure silver their money unit should contain, nor establish the proportion between their silver and gold coins. No other resolutions were entered into, nor had anything been done to effectuate these. What is said, therefore, on this subject in the Courier d'Europe is entirely fable, unless the compiler of that paper has received information of a later date than the middle of August. I do expect that Congress will sometime soon complete their system or resolutions on this subject, and carry them into effect.