The Kilogram Has Gained Weight

LiveScience ^ | 06 January 2013 07:43 PM ET | Tia Ghose

[SoothingDave]

In the USA, it’s up to Congress to set standards of weights and measures (per Article 1 section 8 paragraph 5 of the Constitution); that’s the main reason why we haven’t adopted a foreign system such as the so-called “Système Internationale”.

No, really it's the (understandable) stubbornness of the people. We don't want SI, so we don't use it. Except 2 liters of pop. Cause that's bigger than 2 quarts.

[reg45]

However, the Metric Act of 1866 had made the use of the Metric System a legal standard in the United States. As far as I know, that act and the subsequent Treaty of The Metre (1875) had established the Metric System as an official standard of the United States. Adams and Jefferson had attempted to establish it as the official standard of the country but no official action was taken until the 1866 act.