Everyone who has ever seen 1776 knows that John Adams was the ringmaster of the American Revolution. Yet, he is not represented on any of our contemporary (nor to my knowledge, any of our obsolete) currency or coins.*
All the other bigshots got the honor – Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison (obsolete). And the first three got acknowledged AGAIN with coins!
What the heck gives here? Who’s running John Adam’s PR firm? Fire the bozo and hire somebody who can get things done.
So, do you agree, Adams got screwed?
Okay, he might be somewhere in the crowd on the back of the $2 bill. I’m not sure. But that doesn’t count, anyway.
And Alexander Hamilton, wasn’t either. What the hell? Passed over for two non-presidents? Poor guy. They should make Hamilton andFranklin share the ten dollar bill, and then Adams can take over Franklin’s spot. And to make up for things, they should make his likeness terribly attractive, too.
Well, but Hamilton write the Federalist papers and was the first Secretary of the Treasury, which at least has to do with money. And he was bitter enemies with Mr. Adams.
Its’ been awhile since US History I in high school, but here goes:
-$1/quarter Washington: General in Revolution. First pres.
-$2/nickel Jefferson: Federalist(?). Wrote the Delaration of Independence. Third pres. Begining of new political party (Jeffersonian democrats).
-$5/penny Lincoln: Won the Civil War. Sixteenth pres. First Republician pres.
-$10 Hamilton: Federalist. First Sec. of Treasury. I believe he got us out of many of our war debts.
-$20 Jackson: Hero of War of 1812, even though his battle was won a fortnight after hostililies were formally ended. Brash, vulgar, represented frontier America. Begining of new political party (Jacksonian democrats).
-$50 Grant: Hero of the Civil War. President.
-$100 Franklin: Great diplomat who helped to get France on our side during Revolution. Well respected thinker.
-dime Truman?: Finished off WWII. Authorized Berlin Airlift. First leader of Cold War.
-half dollar Kennedy: Projected a young and vigorous image. Died young and publicly.
-Dollar piece Anthony/Sacaguwea [sic]: The former was a women’s sufferage leader. The latter lead Lewis and Clark though the West.
Adams: a one-term pres. A Federalist. Not particularly popular. So to make a long answer short, no Adams didn’t get screwed over.
The heck with John…how about putting Samuel Adams on a coin or bill? God knows we don’t need any more Harvard men on our currency, but the guy served in the First and Second Continental Congresses, wrote and published a “Declaration of Colonial Rights” and signed Jefferson’s ensuing Declaration of Independence, was Governor of Massachusetts, and had a pretty good beer named after him.
Plus, he was a rabble-rouser. We need to honor our rabble-rousers more in this country.
How about another attempt at a dollar coin, this time with Mother Jones on the obverse?
First of all, we gotta boot Kennedy off those halves, if they’re still making them. Talk about a boneheaded move, putting him on our money. In fifty years (or less) we will be considered the laughing stock of people who think about such things. It’s as if we put Elvis on a coin.
1A. Jackson can go too, IMO, but I won’t press the matter too hard.
Wolf, you forgot that Franklin is on halves too. And, IIRC, Eisenhower (sp?) is as well.
Another thing, Wolf, your little synopsis of Adams’ career does not do him justice. His efforts to push the Revolution along is what makes him worthy, not just his official resume.
I agree with Wolfian; I don’t think John Adams got screwed over. I think John Quincy Adams was more deserving.
Sam Adams, who was not related to the other two, was, at best, a scoundrel; at worst, pure scum. His primary interest in fomenting revolution was to cause enough turmoil to distract the British, who were making his smuggling operation increasingly difficult. He had no actual desire for independence, just wealth. Likewise, his forays into politics were motivated purely by greed. Personally, I find the statue of him, here in Boston, quite offensive enough, without having to carry him around in my pocket.
Franklin was on the 50-cent piece before Kennedy. The Mint doesn’t make Eisenhower dollars anymore. He was supplanted by Susan B. Anthony and then Sacajawea.
John Adams was not a very popular president and perhaps his “legacy” was the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, two of the greatest violations of civil liberties in this country’s history.
Grant is the guy who needs to go. Good general. Awful president.
Wolfian, I had always understood that Hamilton was a believer that national debt was a good thing. I will look for a cite, but I seem to recall somewhere that Hamilton wanted the federal government to pay off the state debts by going into debt itself. And dim in the back of my brain is the recollection, possibly false, that Hamilton was the proponent of the first national bank. I’ll have to look further.
Hamilton knew that if the Federal government assumed the state’s debts that they would be bound financially to the new Federal government. This would strengthen that institution. It was the issue that served to separate the new government into factions.
Jackson didn’t like debt or a national bank. He vetoed the recharter of the 2nd Bank of the US and ended any national banking system in the U.S. until the Federal Reseve was established. His presence on a Federal Reserve note is somewhat ironic.
Sorry. I was being lazy. I meant he wasn’t in the same direct line of descent, as John and John Q. were. Yes, Sam and John were cousins, though I’m not sure how close the actual relationship was. Heck, technically, I’m cousin to half of Massachusetts, parts of Maine and Vermont, and most of Prince Edward Island, Canada, but I don’t know any of those people.
Why not start replacing portraits of government officials with those of people who accomplished great things outside of government? Put Mark Twain on money. Or Jackie Robinson. Are they not American icons?
We should be like pre-Euro France and have composers/musicians (they had Debussy; we could have Gershwin, Ellington, Copeland, Hendrix, Zappa, etc.), fictional characters (they had the Little Prince; we could have Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Yossarian, or the Cat in the Hat), and topless women on our money.
As for presidents, I think Woodrow Wilson would be a good pick.