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Listening to a weather forecast on a Canadian TV station, the temperatures are given in Celsius. Paul, who grew up in Canada, makes the mental conversion easily. Paul grew up using the Imperial system of measurement, which is used in the United States. After he was an adult and had immigrated to the U.S., Canada converted to the metric system. Paul is an electrician, a profession that uses the metric system of measurement. That, combined with his frequent travel to Canada, means he is familiar with both systems and believes the metric is a more accurate means of measurement.

Paul frequently comments that the U.S. was supposed to make the conversion to the metric system when Canada did, but failed to fulfill their promise. I recall being in grade school when we were told that the United States would adopt the metric system. I wondered how valid Paul’s repeated comment was, so I delved into researching the topic.

 Canada was making the transition at the same time and completed their conversion between 1970 and 1985. The United States never finished the conversion, despite agreeing to do so, and continues to use the Imperial System today. That made me wonder, why did Canada succeed, and we didn’t?

In my opinion, the U.S. failed to complete the conversion due to a lack of effort and unwillingness to invest in implementing the change. Businesses opposed the cost of having to retool and adjust standardized measurement systems, including bolts, pipes, and nuts, to metric measurements. The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 [ https://usma.org/laws-and-bills/metric-conversion-act-of-1975 ] made the metric system preferred, but not mandatory. This, combined with public resistance and the government’s inability to enforce the change, led to the failure to implement the change.

As of today, the United States is only one of three countries (the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar (Burma)) worldwide using the Imperial measurement system. The Imperial system [ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Imperial-unit ] (also known as the British Imperial system) originated from the British Empire, which ruled many areas of the world between the 16th and 19th centuries. Although the U.S. Founding Fathers made numerous changes in governing style when obtaining independence from Britain, they decided to maintain the Imperial system of measurement, despite the metric system growing in popularity.

Rather than adopting it in its original state, the United States devised its own version of the Imperial system, known as the U.S. Customary System. It uses measurements of feet, pounds, and miles, but differs slightly from the British Imperial system. The most substantial difference is in volume:

• The U.S. Customary fluid ounce is 29.573 ml; the British Imperial fluid ounce is 28.413 milliliters.
• The U.S. Customary pint is 473.176 ml (16 fl. oz); the British Imperial pint is 568.261 ml (20 fl. oz).
• The U.S. Customary quart is 0.94 L (32 fl. oz); the British Imperial quart is 1.13 L (40 fl. oz).
• The U.S. Customary gallon is 3.78 L (128 fl. oz); the British Imperial gallon is 4.54 L (160 fl. oz).

The reason for creating the Customary version of the Imperial system was that the metric system was not yet fully developed. The Founding Fathers had a desire to establish a unique national identity and infrastructure, and tweaking the system to make it unique to the U.S. was their way of achieving this goal.

Myanmar (Burma) and Liberia use the Imperial system but are transitioning to the metric system; neither has a predicted completion date. Once their conversions are final, the U.S. will be the sole user of the Imperial system. In 2021, the British government announced plans to return to the Imperial system during its exit from the European Union. The changeover began but was abandoned in 2024 after consulting with the public and discovering overwhelming support for using metric units. They do still use the imperial system for things such as beer sales, road speed, and distance signs, and body measurements.

Although I found the metric system difficult to learn as a child, our government failed its citizens by not enforcing a complete change in the 1970s. A full conversion would have served business owners better in international trade negotiations and put us on equal terms with all foreign lands in understanding measurements when traveling.  

All countries worldwide, including the U.S., Myanmar, and Liberia, have adopted or legally sanctioned the International System of Units (SI), the modern form of the metric system. Canada and the United States are both melting pots of the Imperial and Metric measurement styles.

Watch for Part II and Part III in upcoming blogs, which will deal with the law and the Canadian conversion, the laws and the United States conversion, and where the United States stands today.