This weight was one of six that was made in 1793 by the French Temporary Commission on Weights and Measures, representing the unit of mass of a proposed system of weights and measures. Originally termed the "grave," in 1795 the unit was renamed the "kilogram." The Eighteenth Century, often called the Age of Reason, witnessed many reform movements, among them a movement in France to rationalize the system of weights and measures in use. The revolutionary government in France appointed the Temporary Commission to propose such a reform. The Commission's proposed system was termed the metric system. The metric system --a decimal system with a standardized nomenclature-- was considered a democratic development because it was thought to be accessible to people on all levels of society.