Jack Lew: Hamilton will share space on the $10
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is expected to announce this week that Alexander Hamilton's face will remain on the front of the $10 bill and a woman will replace Andrew Jackson on the face of the $20 bill, a senior government source told CNN on Saturday.
Lew announced last summer that he was considering redesigning the $10 bill to include the portrait of a woman. The decision to make the historic change at the expense of Hamilton drew angry rebukes from fans of the former Treasury Secretary. The pro-Hamilton movement gained steam after the smash success of the hip-hop Broadway musical about his life this year.
Those pressures led Lew to determine that Hamilton should remain on the front of the bill. Instead, a mural-style depiction of the women's suffrage movement -- including images of leaders such as Susan B. Anthony -- will be featured on the back of the bill.
A Treasury spokesman declined to comment on the pending changes. But Lew hinted that a decision could come this week.
"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."
Related: 'Hamilton' creator lobbies Treasury on the $10 bill redesign
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.
That process isn't likely to be sped up by the Federal Reserve, which issues the currency, given the work that goes into designing secure technology to thwart counterfeiters.
"The blue security ribbon on the $100 note took over 15 years to develop," the source said. "This level of technology is why our counterfeiting remains at less than .01% of currency in circulation. We should not expedite the issuance of any currency for political purposes."
Future Treasury Secretaries -- of which there will be several -- could reverse or alter the decision regarding the $20, making Lew's announcement far less of a clear-cut victory for the movement pushing to place a woman on American currency.
Related: Where is that $10 bill with a woman on it?
The $5 bill will retain Abraham Lincoln on the front, with plans to change the back to include a mural of prominent activities that have taken place at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
The idea of including women in a mural on the back of a bill has been called into question.
"It will take a microscope to see who those individuals are, and we'll be left with another decade or more of woefully inadequate representation of women and their worth," wrote the group Women on 20s in an open letter to Lew, published by Time.
"Nobody looks at the back of the bill, and that's not likely to change," the group wrote. "A vignette without a woman's portrait on the front of the bill (even if she must share with Hamilton) will be seen as a token gesture and an affront to Americans of all ages who are expecting you to reveal your choice of a singular woman based on their input. As a friend of ours put it, relegating women to the back of the bill is akin to sending them to the back of the bus. The Rosa Parks analogies are inevitable."
CNNMoney (New York) First published April 16, 2016: 6:59 PM ET
FAQs
In fact, Hamilton's likeness has adorned our national currency more than any other person, and this, in our view, is an entirely appropriate honor. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton erected the pillars of the U.S. financial infrastructure, pillars that still support us.
When was Hamilton put on the $10 dollar bill? ›
The Series of 1928 notes, all the same size with similar design features, went into circulation in 1929. Since then, the $10 note has featured Hamilton as the sole portrait.
Who is replacing Hamilton on the $10 dollar bill? ›
Hamilton will remain on the $10 note, Lew said. Instead, the Treasury building on the back of the bill will be replaced with leaders of the suffrage movement to give women the right to vote, including Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul.
Is Hamilton on the $20 bill? ›
On April 20, 2016, Lew officially announced that Alexander Hamilton would remain on the $10 bill, while Andrew Jackson would be replaced by Tubman on the front of the $20 bill, with Jackson appearing on the reverse.
Is Hamilton staying on the $10 dollar bill? ›
The decision to keep him on the $10 bill, however, did not result from an attack of historical awareness. Rather, it was urged by a surge of angry Americans at the original announcement that he would be removed.
Was Hamilton taken off the $10 dollar bill? ›
On April 20, 2016, it was announced that Alexander Hamilton would remain the primary face on the $10 bill, due in part to the sudden popularity of the first Treasury Secretary after the success of the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton.
Is there a 1000 dollar bill? ›
The United States no longer issues bills in larger denominations, such as $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills. But they are still legal tender and may still be in circulation.
Who are they putting on the $10 dollar bill? ›
Ten-dollar bill: Alexander Hamilton.
During his time as a statesman, he helped develop guidelines for constitutional interpretation and led the establishment of the first national bank. Fun fact: Hamilton founded The New York Post, a newspaper that is still in circulation today.
When was Hamilton put on the bill? ›
The portrait of Hamilton currently used for Federal Reserve notes was introduced in the 1928 series $10 note. This portrait is based on a John Trumbull painting displayed in New York City Hall.
Why is Hamilton changing his name? ›
Lewis Hamilton changes his NAME amid new F1 season in touching tribute to his mum. MERCEDES driver Lewis Hamilton changed his NAME to honour his mum's legacy. Lewis, 38, declared last year he wants his mother's surname Larbalestier to live on with him amid the new F1 season.
Formula 1's Lewis Hamilton revealed he is changing his name to include his mother's maiden name, Larbalestier. "It would mean the world to my family [to win an eighth title]," Hamilton told reporters Monday. "It would mean a lot to me knowing that, for example, I am really proud of my family's name, Hamilton.
How many children did Hamilton have? ›
Alexander Hamilton's Children: Founding Father of Eight
The couple had a large family with eight children. The brood of Alexander Hamilton's children consisted of Philip, Angelica, Alexander Jr., James Alexander, John Church, William Stephen, Eliza, and Philip (named after his elder deceased brother).
Who's on the 1000 dollar bill? ›
The original $1,000 bill featured Alexander Hamilton on the front. When someone presumably realized that it might be confusing to have the same former Secretary of the Treasury on multiple denominations, Hamilton's portrait was replaced with that of a president—the 22nd and 24th, Grover Cleveland.
Who is the 2 dollar bill? ›
The $2 note features a portrait of Thomas Jefferson on the front of the note and a vignette depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back of the note.
Who is on the $500 dollar bill? ›
All these bills except one featured presidents: William McKinley on the $500, Grover Cleveland on the $1,000, and James Madison on the $5,000. Salmon Chase, a nonpresident, was featured on the $10,000 bill; he was secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln and chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Who is on the 10 dollar bill and why? ›
Ten-dollar bill: Alexander Hamilton.
He served in the Revolutionary War as an aide to George Washington and is one of our Founding Fathers. During his time as a statesman, he helped develop guidelines for constitutional interpretation and led the establishment of the first national bank.
Why did Alexander Hamilton believe in the Bill of Rights? ›
Hamilton and his supporters not only believed enumeration to be unnecessary, they feared that it could restrict the freedom of the people. By limiting certain powers of the state, a Bill of Rights could be interpreted to grant all others (Hamilton, Federalist No. 84).
Did Alexander Hamilton have anything to do with the Bill of Rights? ›
A Bill of Rights was not part of the Constitution of 1787. Its omission was hotly debated. Some Founding Fathers, most famously Alexander Hamilton, argued that it was not necessary to include a bill of rights in the Constitution.
Who was on the $10 dollar bill before Hamilton? ›
Founding Father and former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton's face is on the $10 bill. The first $10 bill issued by the Federal Reserve in 1914 had President Andrew Jackson's face. Hamilton's face was swapped in 1929, and Jackson moved to the $20 bill.
