That finally came in 1787, when Congress authorized the Fugio or Franklin cent.

The Fugio Cent is the first official cent of the United States.

The obverse depicts a sundial with the terms "Fugio" and "Mind Your Business".

The plate and gnomon are coper and the plate is inscribed with "Dum spectes fugio".

The Fugio Cent of 1787: Introduction, The Coins of Colonial and Earlier America.

And, while the reverse chain had been intended to symbolize the togetherness of the newly formed Union (similar iconography had been utilized on the reverse of the earlier Fugio Cent and Revolutionary War era Continental currency), many commentators instead interpreted it as representative of slavery.

On April 21, 1787, the Continental Congress of the United States authorized a design for an official copper penny, later referred to as the Fugio cent because of its image of the sun shining down on a sundial with the caption, "Fugio" (Latin: I flee/fly).