President George Washington made repeated entreaties to Congress to exercise its constitutional power to standardize weights and measures. In his third annual message, Washington urged, "A uniformity in the weights and measures of the country is among the important objects submitted to you by the Constitution and if it can be derived from a standard at once invariable and universal, must be no less honorable to the public councils than conducive to the public convenience." Congress responded by appointing a committee to study the matter but was reluctant to take conclusive action as long as the fate of the metric system was still undetermined in Europe. Even if France coalesced around the new system, it was unclear whether other countries would adopt it and which countries would prove close trading partners of the United States.