# Harriet Tubman to Replace Andrew Jackson on $20 Bill **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739 "2016-04-20T16:59:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/41 "2016-04-20T19:52:17Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So you think this situation will never happen: Little old lady receives new Tubman bill at the supermarket in change, not realizing it at the time. Later when she discovers it she goes to the police: “The supermarket gave me counterfeit money!!!” So what? She will discover she is wrong, and the world will continue to spin. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/42 "2016-04-20T19:53:17Z")
Tubman is solid. [Should use this picture.](http://theangryblackwoman.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/htcover-300x300.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/43 "2016-04-20T19:56:00Z")
Considering [how money is used](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/08/cocaine-money-washington-d-c.html) these days. I’m not sure having your face on it is such an exalted honor anymore. Tubman is an important historical figure and it was time for a new face on our currency. Congrats are in order. I’d like to see a new face on the $20 every decade. Honor ten people every century… ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/44 "2016-04-20T19:57:47Z")
Hey, she helped Lincoln defeat those evil Southern Vampires as well… ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/45 "2016-04-20T20:00:01Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > There’s no reason we couldn’t have multiple circulating designs of a given denomination. That is, a consistent overall schema to readily distinguish denominations from one other, but with a handful of different figures individually represented at each. Those variations could be introduced one at a time, without pulling designs already circulating. Think of it as an ongoing national history lesson. We already do that with the state quarters, so there’s definitely precedent. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/46 "2016-04-20T20:06:04Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > Tubman is solid. [Should use this picture.](http://theangryblackwoman.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/htcover-300x300.jpg) Harriet Tubman as badass action hero—I like it. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/47 "2016-04-20T20:17:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve no objection to this. Jackson was not particularly praiseworthy, and Tubman was. Though I should point out that Jackson was relatively badass, as presidents go, if that’s our criterion (admittedly not as badass as TR, of course). Not suggesting he wasn’t, just that his replacement should also break heads and/or hearts. TR bills wouldn’t be spendable because each one would punch its way through your wallet. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/48 "2016-04-20T20:17:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > $20 bills? Do people still use those? They’re the only thing that come out of ATMs. What do you get? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/49 "2016-04-20T20:21:24Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > TR bills wouldn’t be spendable because each one would punch its way through your wallet. Plus, it would be hard to get that big stick in there. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/50 "2016-04-20T20:24:12Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > They’re the only thing that come out of ATMs. What do you get? I get US$50 bills. Only US currency the machines will dispense. But I’m outside the US and wouldn’t know what the Stateside machines are spitting out these days. When I withdraw local currency (Cayman dollars) I get CI$25 and CI$50 bills, equivalent to US$31.25 and US$62.50 respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/51 "2016-04-20T20:24:42Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Andrew Jackson is one this message board’s favorite historical villains. His demotion is entirely proper. I’m wondering about who his constituency is. Ben Carson is a fan, apparently - > **[Ben Carson Hates To See Genocidal Slave Owner Andrew Jackson Replaced On The...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ben-carson-20-bill-tubman_n_5717cd13e4b0479c59d6c430)** > > He thinks Harriet Tubman should go on the rarely circulated $2 bill instead. > [@](#): > > After news broke that the U.S. Treasury intends to replace Jackson with Tubman, the former GOP presidential hopeful told Fox Business’ Neil Cavuto he disagreed with the decision. > > “Andrew Jackson was the last president who actually balanced the federal budget, where we had no national debt,” Carson said in an interview Wednesday. “In honor of that, we kick him off of the money.” > > “I love Harriet Tubman, I love what she did,” Carson continued. “But we can find another way to honor her. Maybe a $2 bill.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/52 "2016-04-20T20:32:26Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > When I withdraw local currency (Cayman dollars) I get CI$25 and CI$50 bills, equivalent to US$31.25 and US$62.50 respectively. You have a Cayman Islands bank account, something I can only dream about having.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/53 "2016-04-20T20:32:47Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Unless you plan to assassinate Obama, he’s not eligible anyway. Eventually, he will be - neither is O’Connor, but she will be. By the way, if you want to stick to “Presidents or Founding Fathers” Abigail Adams makes a lot of Founding Father’s lists. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/54 "2016-04-20T20:37:20Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So you think this situation will never happen: Little old lady receives new Tubman bill at the supermarket in change, not realizing it at the time. Later when she discovers it she goes to the police: “The supermarket gave me counterfeit money!!!” I am certain that something like that will happen. It happened with the last update of the $100, and it has happened with people who were simply unacquainted with $2s. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/55 "2016-04-20T20:40:41Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I’m a little wary of a whole “set of changes” – let’s not get crazy with changing all our money multiple times. I don’t want the Tubman Twenty changed in five years to someone else. Let’s show a little restraint. I don’t know what the big deal is. I’d be quite happy having a circulating set of faces on the money, changing them every decade or so. As long as the number that denotes the value of the banknote is printed in big, obvious characters, why does the face on the bill have to remain eternally unchanged? > [@dracoi](#): > > The problem is that opening up the field this wide is going to devalue being on the currency, to me at least. What’s the big fucking deal? It’s not like every goddamned president, whether on a banknote or not, doesn’t have hundreds or thousands of other things named after him. Why not open up the currency used by the American people to a more representative sample of the American people? Hell, i’d be happy to evict portraits from the money altogether. I’d be just as happy with National Parks, or animals, or scenic wonders, or whatever. > [@PastTense](#): > > So you think this situation will never happen: Little old lady receives new Tubman bill at the supermarket in change, not realizing it at the time. Later when she discovers it she goes to the police: “The supermarket gave me counterfeit money!!!” Yeah, that’s gonna be a biiiiiiiiiiiiig problem. :rolleyes: I guess that, because some people still fall for phishing scams, we should also reconsider our use of email? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/56 "2016-04-20T20:57:03Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Oh boy, conservatives are not going to like this. I don’t know why, and I haven’t yet heard any complaining, but it’s got to be coming. (Yeah, I just quoted myself.) It would please me greatly to be wrong about my prediction. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/57 "2016-04-20T20:57:36Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I don’t know what the big deal is. > > I’d be quite happy having a circulating set of faces on the money, changing them every decade or so. As long as the number that denotes the value of the banknote is printed in big, obvious characters, why does the face on the bill have to remain eternally unchanged? I don’t think we should switch people every 10 years. There’s a value to continuity. Counterfeiting is an issue, especially abroad, so familiarity with the general design is a plus. That said, Andrew Jackson was placed on the bill in 1928. I think we can manage rotations every 50+ years or so. Or 90+ years. Our hardy predecessors dealt with Grover Cleveland in a 1918 issue and Hugh McCulloch in 1902. Somehow, someway, they persevered. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/58 "2016-04-20T21:19:20Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Hell, i’d be happy to evict portraits from the money altogether. I’d be just as happy with National Parks We do. They’re on quarters. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/59 "2016-04-20T21:19:36Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > (Yeah, I just quoted myself.) > > It would please me greatly to be wrong about my prediction. [Too late.](http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/right-wing-twitter-trolls-are-boiling-in-a-stew-of-hatred-over-this-150-year-old-american-hero/) I have no problem with a revolving portrait on our currency. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739/60 "2016-04-20T21:55:36Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > What’s the big fucking deal? It’s not like every goddamned president, whether on a banknote or not, doesn’t have hundreds or thousands of other things named after him. Why not open up the currency used by the American people to a more representative sample of the American people? > > Hell, i’d be happy to evict portraits from the money altogether. I’d be just as happy with National Parks, or animals, or scenic wonders, or whatever. It’s not _that_ big of a deal. The issue for me can be best summed up by the Nobel Peace Prize. I know I’m not alone in thinking that it should be renamed the Nobel Wishful Thinking Prize. This isn’t even an under-handed slam against Obama when there are so many less-deserving recipients like Arafat. Other than that… well, as I said before, I’m just not a fan of currency changing at all. For me, the stability in form as well as function is a reassuring element of money. It’s meant to be boring, consistent and reliable. You start adding holograms and color and state mottos and you upset the whole balance of life. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harriet-tubman-to-replace-andrew-jackson-on-20-bill/752739.md?page=4)