In 1920, for the first time in history, women across the United States made their way into the voting booth. One hundred years later, a woman may make her way onto the country’s paper money. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced
In 1920, for the first time in history, women across the United States made their way into the voting booth. One hundred years later, a woman may make her way onto the country’s paper money. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced Wednesday that Treasury’s 2020 redesign of the $10 bill will feature a female portrait. Though the news of Alexander Hamilton’s possible ousting is unwelcome, including women on United States paper currency is a first step forward and should not be the last. As Treasury alters its bills, it should move to include female faces alongside male ones.
After some initial excitement, many responded to Lew’s announcement with annoyance. Why not the $20 bill, and why not Andrew Jackson, as those behind the campaign for women on paper currency had urged? Treasury officials explained that the $10 was due for a makeover to protect it against fraud, while the $20 was recently updated. Still, the choice hits a nerve. Jackson provoked the Trail of Tears and helped destroy the Second Bank of the United States; Hamilton built the financial foundation the nation rests on to this day. It hardly makes sense to strike from our currency the man who created central banking and preserve one who opposed it.
Honestly, though, we’re not keen on striking anyone. Whom the nation thought worthy of honor in the past is itself useful history. Future installments of the $10 and $20 bills should certainly feature women — and why not the $1, $5, $50 and $100, too? But history is not a zero-sum game: It is possible and, indeed, preferable to add chapters to the narrative written on our currency without deleting others. Treasury could produce two variations of each bill, or bills with a different face on either side.
This would make room for more women on paper currency at no historical figure’s expense. Harriet Tubman, the frontrunner in one online poll asking who should replace Jackson, can and should accompany Hamilton. Eleanor Roosevelt could join Abraham Lincoln, and Rosa Parks, Ulysses S. Grant. In taking this route, Treasury would paint the fullest picture of U.S. history on the most readily available canvas.
— Washington Post
