Following growing demand by the American public, on June 17, the treasury announced that a woman’s portrait will feature on the US $10 bill. Symbolically, the new note will enter circulation in 2020, the 100-year anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which gave every US citizen, including woman, the right to vote.
The woman, whom is yet to be named, will replace the current resident of the paper note, Alexander Hamilton, the founder of the US financial system. Hamilton, who has been the face of the $10 bill since 1928, will still feature somewhere in the new design.
The Secretary invited people to share their ideas, symbols and designs for the new ten
Jacob Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, made a video statement to announce the bold move, saying, “This historic endeavour has been years in the making.” Lew explained that democracy will be the theme for the next currency series and is integral to the new design of the $10 note.
“The woman’s suffrage movement was propelled by the fundamental truths that have animated this nation since our founding, that we are all created equal, that we are born with certain alienable rights,” Lew said in the announcement, which can be watched on YouTube. “Those ideals and our striving to make them a reality, define the United States of America”.
Lew then asked the general public to make suggestions on a new website or via Twitter with the hashtag #TheNew10 as to who should feature on the new bill. The Secretary invited people to share their ideas, symbols and designs for the new ten and “how it can reflect our representative democracy”.
The last woman to feature on US paper currency was over a century ago when Martha Washington graced the $1 Silver Certificate for a short stint between 1891 and 1896.
Legislation dictates that no one living can feature on a bill, while George Washington’s staple place on the $1 cannot be removed. Slavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman seems to be at the forefront of public favour, following a high profile petition that was given to the US president Barack Obama just last week to have her portrait on the $20 bill. Other potentials include Eleanor Roosevelt and suffragette Susan B Anthony, as indicated by an informal vote carried out by the “Women on 20s” campaigning group.
