Expert: PAPAJACK - 8/20/2008

Question
the name cent was first suggested by the revolutionary war patriot gouverneur morris in 1782 and may have been taken from latin word centum [hundred] fact or fiction

Answer
Hello Holly,                                 

It is a fact that the dollar is the standard basic unit of the United States. The politicians that were in power at t he time had to agree on this basic unit. When you break any whole into 100 pieces it is one percent. In the case of monetary units ONE CENT is One Percent of the whole.
The rest is history! I have included some passages from The Beginnings of United States Coinage here to confirm your facts.
It was Gouverneur Morris who proposed a decimal coinage ratio, and his plan was incorporated in a report presented by "Robert Morris" who was Superintendent of Finance, to the congress in January 1782.

Congress gave final approval for the dollar as the basic unit and decimal coinage based on it in July of 1785. The Massachusetts Cents and Half Cents made in 1787 and 1788 are listed as the first official coins to have a value stated in cents.

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