Lately, it seems as though social progress has been the common core of discussion on nearly every platform. Recently, Caitlyn Jenner's transformation was the popular subject of focus. However, now it seems that the long awaited demand for a female figure to be displayed on a U.S. dollar is finally becoming a reality. Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew announced on Wednesday that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will replace the present portrait of President Hamilton in favor of a portrait with Hamilton and a woman in tandem on the bill. The prospective date of reveal will take place in the year of 2020, plenty of time to decide who will be the first woman on a dollar since Martha Washington was featured on the $1 Silver Certificate in 1896. While this is considered to be a victory for lobbyists who have been trying for years to get a woman on a paper bill, there are still topics of debate in the matter.
"We have only made changes to the faces on our currency a few times since bills were first put into circulation, and I'm proud that the new 10 will be the first bill in more than a century to feature the portrait of a woman," Lew said in an interview on Wednesday. President Hamilton's visage replaced President Andrew Jackson in 1929, pushing Jackson to replace Grover Cleveland on the 20 dollar bill. Interestingly, Jackson was the focus of petition in March with a group pushing to replace him with a woman as well. While President Jackson's reputation lacks a favorable moral appeal, Secretary Lew stated that the 10 dollar bill was next in line to be altered instead. Reasons for altering the 10 dollar bill instead of replacing Jackson on the 20 dollar bill fall mostly into the fact that the most commonly counterfeited dollar houses Hamilton's face.
Among the latter, the biggest debate deals with the question of who will be the featured woman. Lew states that the only requirements are that the candidate must be deceased and that she should be someone "who was a champion for our inclusive democracy". The most popular nominees include icons such as Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Harriet Tubman.
Secretary Lew wants the new bill to be a symbol of American democracy for decades to come. He has openly requested that discussion of the bill include the hashtag #TheNew10 on social media to help him make the final decision.
While paper currency has increasingly become a less commonplace item in daily purchases, social changes to U.S. currency may potentially become a reviving factor. Small victories like this altering of a malleable symbol displays the progress that American society has made over the last few decades. Already social changes are taking place and are being supported with open arms by both government and private parties. It is with high hopes that by the year 2020, the $10 bill will not be the only change the United States has made to become a more inclusive and welcoming society.
