Woman to Appear on New $10 Bill, First Time Woman Appears on Paper Money in a Century
A woman will grace at least some of the new $10 bills expected to go into circulation by 2020, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced on Wednesday, according to Politico. But, which woman will have her face be the first to appear on U.S. paper currency in more than a century?
"It will be my decision," Sec. Lew said. "Obviously, I share my views on a regular basis on a wide variety of issues with the president; but it's my decision."
Nevertheless, the Treasury Department is asking the public to weigh in on the new design and who should be chosen for the honor, ABC News reported. Lew, who said he expected to make his call later this year, also wants to keep the note's current "incumbent," Alexander Hamilton, at least on some of the bills.
"Lew said it was 'personally very important' to him to preserve Hamilton's place of honor on the $10," Politico noted. "So whether it's by printing $10s with different faces, or with multiple portraits on a single one, the woman will have to share with Hamilton."
The Treasury's announcement comes after a public campaign to get U.S. paper money to feature a woman, which began when a 9 year-old girl named Sofia wrote a letter to President Barack Obama last year suggesting it was time to change the all-male lineup, ABC News recalled.
"I was studying (Puritan spiritual adviser Anne) Hutchinson, who stood up for women's rights," Sofia wrote, according to Time magazine. "Almost everyone who chose a boy, on their poster they had pictures of different dollar bills or coins with their person on it. So I noticed, why don't women have coins or dollar bills with their faces on it?"
The girl listed Hutchinson, civil-rights leader Rosa Parks, and first ladies Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt as some of her favorite choices. Obama wrote her back, noting: "I must say, you're pretty impressive too."
Sofia's suggestion to put Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama on a dollar bill, however, will not be an option for Lew: One of the few legal limitation the Treasury secretary faces is that the person cannot be living.
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