As we’ve seen, speculation has been ratcheting over which American woman will be chosen to grace the $10 bill in 2020. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has been asking the public for suggestions. Currently, female representation is limited to Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea on those rarely-used, dollar-coin keepsakes.
But there’s another issue: Why the $10 bill? It features Alexander Hamilton, who founded this country’s first major bank, became the nation’s first treasury secretary and is synonymous with foundational contributions to the U.S. economy. For what it’s worth, former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke finds the “demotion” of Hamilton “appalling.”
Others, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, have favored the $20 bill, which would replace former President Andrew Jackson, who does have that off-putting association with ethnic cleansing and the Indian Removal Act.
I say, for sheer optics, let’s also look at the $100 bill, the one with Ben Franklin.
If you’re going to remove any of the seven portraits, why jettison the handsome, debonair, jaunty Hamilton–and keep the chubby, ill-coiffed, foppish Franklin?