Why is former U.S. President Andrew Jackson still on the $20 bill, as opposed to suitable candidates like Rosa Parks, Betty Friedan, or Sojourner Truth?
Sure, the 7th President of the United States may have been a decorated Revolutionary War hero, who helped to defeat the invading British as a major general in the War of 1812, but as President, Jackson oversaw a lot of herculean accomplishments. Are they still relevant?
Two centuries later, is the decorated “Hero of New Orleans” still worthy of decorating our currency?
That’s a question being asked by actress Susan Sarandon, along with other gender equality advocates, as part of the “Women on 20s” campaign, which is determined to have “Old Hickory” replaced on the $20 bill by one of 15 prominent women the group has chosen from America’s past.
By the year 2020, the 100-year anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which afforded women the right to vote, “Women on 20s” hopes to change the face of the prominent piece of currency.
Sarandon supported the movement Tuesday when she posted a photo of herself holding some cash on Twitter:
The group’s website reads: “Women On 20s aims to compel historic change by convincing President Obama that NOW is the time to put a woman’s face on our paper currency. But who should it be? We believe that’s for you, the public, to decide from a slate of 15 inspiring American women heroes.”
So why kick old “King Mob” off of the bill? According to the group, not only was Jackson a racially motivated warmonger, responsible for killing countless Native Americans, but he was also an opponent of the central banking system.
Jackson favored “gold and silver coin or ‘hard money’ over paper currency, he is an ironic choice for immortalization on our money,” the group’s website states.
“Women on 20s” is asking visitors to vote on which historical female icon should take Jackson’s place on the double sawbuck. Names include Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Barbara Jordan, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony, to name a few.
As for Susan B. Anthony’s place on the one-dollar coin: “Fewer than 800 million were minted before the public got sick of mistaking them for quarters,” according to the group.
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