I think this is incorrect. Don't centuries start with the 00? In that case the first year of a century is 0, and the 76th year would be 75, not 76 as the author writes:
> starting in 1776, not in the 76th year of the 18th century.
And there is a year zero in the ISO 8601:2004 system, the interchange standard for all calendar numbering systems (where year zero coincides with the Gregorian year 1 BC; see conversion table). [via Wikipedia]
> starting in 1776, not in the 76th year of the 18th century.