As most of us have heard by now, Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 dollar bill. She will be the first woman on U.S. currency, as well as the first minority. This is a great step for the United States, but unfortunately, one that has been met with backlash. It seems like anytime something happens in this country, some group of people gets pissed off or offended. Let's examine why she's the perfect choice and why her critics are so wrong.
The women's movement is stereotyped by a few bad feminists. Personally, I disagree with the movement as a whole, but still believe in women's equality and rights. The typical image of a feminist is a woman with hairy armpits, B.O. and a hatred for men. The movement is met with a lot of backlash by men and even some women. Replacing Jackson with an important feminist, (I can't name any) just wouldn't work. That's what makes Tubman so great; anyone except the worst kinds of people can get behind her. She fought slavery by leading slaves on the underground railroad, something almost nobody can disagree with.
Sadly, not everyone can get behind that. Apparently there's something wrong with leading people out of servitude. Suddenly a certain group of people suddenly care about Andrew Jackson. Sadly, those people seem to ignore the Trail of Tears, when Jackson ignored the Supreme Court and forced the Cherokee Indians out of their homeland and onto reservations resulting in thousands of deaths along the way. Almost 200 years later, he does not deserve to be on the $20 dollar bill, or any currency for that matter:
The Republican platform switched almost completely with the Democratic platform. But during the 20th century, Democrats pushed for segregation. Actually, at this time there were two different parties within the Democratic party. The Republican party was only about small government and the free market. It did not include a strong emphasis on religion. This where the split between Democrats occurred. Southern Democrats were religiously motivated and promoted a strong state government, the hallmarks of the modern Republican party. Progressive Democrats worked to end segregation and are more similar to the liberal Democrats we know today. Southern Democrats didn’t start to turn red until Ronald Reagan came out in support of state's rights and emphasized religion in politics. So the next time your crazy Uncle says that Tubman was a gun toting Republican, you can explain why she wasn’t.
