Money and its faces

[Rayman1313]

Who decides who goes on our currency? What do you have to do to become eligible to go onto our money?

For that matter, why were some of the people placed on specific currency? I can understand why Washington is on the 1 $ bill (him being the 1st prez an all), but why is Lincoln relegated to the 5 or Jackson on th 20?

[friedo]

Congress decides who (and what) goes on US currency. The designs are made by the people at the US Mint (for coins) and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (for bills), and the designs are subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.

To get yourself on currency, you have to be dead and important.

[Earthling]

Assuming you’re talking about American currency, the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing says:

The Secretary of the Treasury is responsible for the selection of the designs, including the portraits, which appear on paper currency.

As to why the Secretary (or his committee) chose the particular individuals who grace our notes (other than that they are famous and familiar):

Treasury Department records do not reveal the reason that portraits of these particular statesmen were chosen in preference to those of other persons of equal importance and prominence.