WORLD | Out of the fold | David Skeel | Feb. 20, 2016

In modern times we have seen US coins faces changed many times -especially the quarter dollar. We have seen bills modified for security reasons including color change. There has been an effort to change whose image is to be depicted on what denomination of dollar bill. What seemed like a good idea at the time has become a controversial issue.
"When U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced last summer the government would place a woman on the $10 bill in 2020, he couldn’t have imagined the brouhaha awaiting him. Complaints began rolling in almost immediately. Some of the loudest howls came from women’s groups he surely expected to applaud the announcement: The change, after all, is intended to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote."
"Leading the charge was Women On 20s, a group that strongly supports adding a woman to our paper currency. (The last woman on U.S. paper money was Martha Washington, who adorned the $1 silver certificate at the end of the 19th century.) Anticipating Lew’s plan, the group had conducted an online poll that attracted 600,000 votes, the plurality of which were cast for Harriet Tubman of Underground Railroad fame."
"Women On 20s activists felt cheated because they thought that a woman would debut on the $20 bill, not the $10. Of the major bills, the $10 is the least widely circulated. Somewhat surprisingly for those of us who don’t carry large amounts of cash overseas, the $100 (featuring Benjamin Franklin) is the most popular. The $20 is also in active use. The $10 is not, comprising only 5 percent of the bills in circulation."
"Not only is the $20 bill more widely circulated, its current resident—Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president—has fallen from favor. Once a progressive hero for destroying the national bank, the Second Bank of the United States, Jackson’s reputation has plummeted in recent decades. He is now remembered for his campaigns to eradicate or displace Native Americans and as a slaveholder. Jackson also hated paper money, which always made his presence on the $20 bill ironic. He would have been a sensible candidate for replacement."
"Alexander Hamilton, who graces the $10, is not. Thanks to a superb biography by Ron Chernow that has inspired a hit musical on Broadway (tickets are so scarce that each now costs 35 or 40 Hamiltons), Hamilton has become an American hero. And rightly so. As our first treasury secretary, he stabilized the economy and put in place many of the principles (such as repayment of government debt) that helped fuel the nation’s rise in the 19th century."