Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is supposed to announce some time this week that Alexander Hamilton’s home on the $10 bill is safe.
CNN Money reports:
“When we started this conversation not quite a year ago, it wasn’t clear to me that millions of Americans were going to weigh in with their ideas,” he told CNBC. “We’re not just talking about one bill. We’re talking about the $5, the $10, and the $20. We’re not just talking about one picture on one bill. We’re talking about using the front and the back of the bill to tell an exciting set of stories.”
While Hamilton might be safe, Andrew Jackson is not.
Along those lines, Lew also plans to announce this week that Andrew Jackson — a less beloved former president whose face graces the front of the $20 bill — will be removed in favor of a female representing the struggle for racial equality, according to the government source.That decision would place a female on one of the most widely circulated bills in the world. But the historic change placing a female on the front of the $20 note won’t come for more than a decade, the source said, since the process for changing the design of that note is still in the early stages.”The soonest that a new $20 note will be issued is 2030,” the source said, citing a lengthy process convened by the Advanced Counterfeit Deterrence steering committee, which includes representatives from the U.S. Secret Service, the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve.
I’m fine with this. Andrew Jackson is less worthy of having his mug adorn our daily exchanges than hundreds of other American heroes.
Though I still object to the notion that a woman should be on our currency simply so we can say we have a woman on our currency. Women need not be pandered to.
I blogged about this ordeal last summer, and my opinion remains unchanged:
The Treasury attempted to be female friendly in 1978 when they printed $1 coins featuring Susan B. Anthony’s face. Only 1/3 of the coins were circulated though. Despite the convenience of the $1 coin, the fad never really caught on.When it comes to having a woman’s face on the cash I use to buy shoes, books, and americanos, I’m indifferent. It all spends the same.If anything, I loathe the idea that because I’m a woman I’m supposed to applaud or champion all women firsts a la “it’s time a woman _____!” Being a woman and doing something a man did years before is not in itself an accomplishment. Likewise, slapping a woman’s face on a $10 bill isn’t a cause to celebrate.Of the available jackasses printed on our cash (read: Andrew Jackson, though he knew how to throw a killer party), why replace Alexander Hamilton?! If there’s anything insulting about the latest attempt to feminize American cash, it’s that Hamilton is getting booted for a yet to be determined chick just so America can say we have a chick on our currency. LAME.
Regardless, I’m glad sensibility prevailed and Hamilton’s station remains.
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
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