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Surprise: Woman to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, not Andrew Jackson on the $20
Hotair ^ | 06/18/2015 | AllahPundit

Posted on 06/18/2015 8:37:36 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Ben Domenech wonders how early America’s most famous self-made man, who fought by Washington’s side in the revolution, who co-wrote the Federalist Papers, who constructed the country’s financial system, and who was decades ahead of his time in opposing the slave trade ended up on the currency chopping block.

Our terrible ruling class can’t even resist farking up our money.

Back in 2009, during the height of the Tea Party, there were crotchety old Americans who warned in dark tones about the dangers of this president. He was a socialist, they said, and feckless to boot. He hated the American Founding and the men who built the foundations of this country. He would lead us into war and ruin and despair, and he would tear down the monuments to our heroes along the way. He was anti-American through and through, in ways that us youngsters did not understand. When they said this, I would disagree as politely as possible. The president is wrong about policy, wrong about direction, I said at the time, but he is not a socialist, not someone who hates America. He may have the wrong ideas, but his heart was still in the right place, or close to it.

Is it possible they were right, and I was wrong?

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says it’s no slight against Hamilton, just a quirk of scheduling: The $10 was due for a redesign and the feds want a woman on the currency by 2020 to celebrate the centenary of women’s suffrage. But of course it’s a slight. No one thinks Washington would be booted from the $1 or Lincoln from the $5 if those bills were next for a design overhaul. As for why Hamilton instead of Jackson, the great persecutor of Native Americans and a man effectively disowned by his party (a fan of decentralization with a southern base is basically the opposite of the modern Democratic Party), Lew says it’s because the bills need to be redesigned sequentially for some reason. Presumably Jackson will be cashiered in due time too, but not by 2020.

Who’s replacing Hamilton? Lew won’t say yet:

Lew said Obama administration officials are seeking advice nationwide — including people who “aren’t comfortable using a hashtag as well as people who are comfortable using a hashtag.”

“We are going to be open to many ideas as we go forward consistent with theme of democracy,” Lew said. “Our thinking is to select a woman who has played a major role in our history who represents the theme of democracy.”

The bills with Hamilton in it, which were first introduced in 1929, will continue to be used for as long as those bill last, Lew said.

Presumably it’ll be Harriet Tubman, the name most often mentioned as a potential replacement for Jackson. Hard to believe the feds, having resolved to remove one of the most influential Founders from the sawbuck in favor of a woman, would double down on an all-white currency by choosing a white woman over a black one. Besides, Tubman is better known to most Americans, I’d bet, than leaders of the suffrage movement like Alice Paul, Susan B. Anthony, or Elizabeth Cady Stanton. One of the arguments made on Twitter last night for why Hamilton ended up being sent into currency retirement is that many of us simply don’t know who he is, his amazing achievements notwithstanding. He’s expendable culturally in a way that American presidents like Washington, Lincoln, and even Jackson simply aren’t. It would be odd if the woman who replaced him is much more obscure than he is, even granting that women had grossly fewer opportunities than men like Hamilton did to make a major mark on American politics until recently. Tubman made hers despite everything that was stacked against her. Eleanor Roosevelt did too, although it would be beyond strange to find FDR’s First Lady on the currency when FDR himself, arguably the most consequential president of the last hundred years, isn’t.

But I digress. Jack Lew’s rationalizations aside, why’d they bump Hamilton instead of Jackson? One theory being kicked around last night was that a Democratic administration wouldn’t bump a former Democratic president from the currency, but like I said above, that doesn’t wash. There are few modern Dems who view the term “Jacksonian” as a compliment. Another possibility, as noted, is that Hamilton’s less well known to the public than Jackson is, which may be true but isn’t so true that it would explain a strong preference for bumping the former instead of the latter. Washington and Lincoln are untouchable American icons; Jackson once had an iconic status, but time and greater public awareness of his political sins has eroded his cultural currency. His own accomplishments don’t rival Hamilton’s. He should have been the first to go and would have gone with less objection from people who know their history. Maybe Hamilton was picked for retirement precisely because the administration knew that replacing him would be more likely to provoke a public outcry, especially among GOPers who think greater respect for the Founders and their constitutional scheme are key to restoring American greatness. The more Republicans grumble about Hamilton being tossed, the easier it is to frame their complaints as opposition to having a woman on the currency, a fine little flourish for the “war on women” crapola to come this year and next. Exit question: Which GOP candidate will be the first to call for reinstating Hamilton?


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alexanderhamilton; bho44; currency; dollarbill; jacklew; money; nancylindborg; papermoney; tendollarbill; twitter; woman; wymyn
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To: RayChuang88

Molly Pitcher for the $10 bill!


41 posted on 06/18/2015 9:00:29 AM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: The Toll; DiogenesLamp

Not criticizing if it is a black woman, just be more surprising if it wasn’t considering the current WH occupants.


42 posted on 06/18/2015 9:01:08 AM PDT by V_TWIN
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To: SeekAndFind
The woman who probably did the most for the US was Margaret Thatcher.

That's who I'd put on the $10 bill.

43 posted on 06/18/2015 9:02:46 AM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: SeekAndFind

Can’t take Jackson off. He’s still a hero to too many Democrats. Particularly the ones with a seething hatred for banks.


44 posted on 06/18/2015 9:04:08 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Hamilton was a very important founding father. He should not be replaced at all. This is a stupid exercise in political correctness.


45 posted on 06/18/2015 9:06:57 AM PDT by mrs9x
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To: I want the USA back

46 posted on 06/18/2015 9:07:01 AM PDT by skimbell
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To: mrs9x

The day is coming in the not-too-distant future, when George Washington will be replaced on the one-dollar bill, because he was a slave owner.


47 posted on 06/18/2015 9:09:14 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: skimbell
It would be a healing gesture


48 posted on 06/18/2015 9:09:59 AM PDT by Covenantor ("Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern." Chesterton)
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To: SeekAndFind

Pamela Geller


49 posted on 06/18/2015 9:11:07 AM PDT by 3boysdad (The very elect.)
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To: SeekAndFind
...the dangers of this president. He was a socialist, they said, and feckless to boot.

And that was putting it mildly.

50 posted on 06/18/2015 9:11:54 AM PDT by GoldenPup
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To: Archie Bunker on steroids

Gonna be a lot of defaced &10 bills


51 posted on 06/18/2015 9:17:49 AM PDT by Josa
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To: PUGACHEV

My jr. high students knew. Funny thing is, in the Jefferson/Hamilton political fight, Hamiton’s vision of our nation’s future was much closer to how things turned out, than Jefferson’s. His insistence on a sound currency, honoring our debts and encouragement of business and industry got our country’ s economy off to a good start. Yet it is Jefferson who is revered, even though he unapologetically owned slaves, lived constantly in debt, and whose Presidency destroyed the American economy.

As an aside, an American woman has appeared on our currency—Martha Washington in the 19th century. Any bets that she’ll be on the $10 bill?


52 posted on 06/18/2015 9:20:40 AM PDT by hanamizu
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To: SeekAndFind
"... select a woman who has played a major role in our history who represents the theme of democracy ..."

There is only one choice:

53 posted on 06/18/2015 9:47:10 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Harriett Tubman?


54 posted on 06/18/2015 10:04:26 AM PDT by WayneS (Working every day to save myself from people who want to save me from myself...)
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To: SeekAndFind

watch them make a Total Mess of this ,LOL


55 posted on 06/18/2015 10:07:27 AM PDT by molson209 (Blank)
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To: SeekAndFind
I've got to go with Caitlyn on this one.


56 posted on 06/18/2015 10:12:29 AM PDT by 762X51
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To: Terry L Smith; Molly Pitcher
Molly Pitcher for the $10 bill!

I second that.

Hi Molly! I hope you are doing well.

Oh, may I suggest Kate Upton for the ten?

5.56mm

57 posted on 06/18/2015 10:12:30 AM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: SeekAndFind

If it’s got to be a woman, I vote for Dolly Madison, who saved our most important historical documents from being burned by the Red Coats.


58 posted on 06/18/2015 10:14:17 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (When did the 2nd amendment suddenly require a license or permit to exercise as a right?)
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To: BuffaloJack

Plus she makes hella good donuts.


59 posted on 06/18/2015 10:19:42 AM PDT by skimbell
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To: Veto!
Or maybe a porn star.

Now you're talkin'. Choose a real slut to reflect the general quality of the nation's lawmakers..........

60 posted on 06/18/2015 11:03:07 AM PDT by varon (Para bellum)
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