Legislation Pushing To Put Harriet Tubman On The New $10 Bill

Legislation is pushing to put Harriet Tubman on the new $10 bill in wake of the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcement that they will be removing Andrew Hamilton and replacing him with a woman.

“The U.S. currency and the images of leaders and landmarks that our notes depict has long been a way for us to honor our past, express our values, and capture the prevalent sentiment of the time,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced.

“Right now the $10 bill is undergoing a redesign, and I’m proud to announce today that the new $10 bill will be the first bill in over a century to feature the portrait of a woman.”

Lew also announced that the new note would be released in 2020, since that will be the 100th anniversary of the amendment that gave women the right to vote. Watch the remainder of the announcement here.

There are several current contenders for the spot on the new $10, including Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Wilma Mankiller. The Twitter population has also weighed in on the matter, including names like Caitlyn Jenner, Marilyn Monroe, and Hillary Clinton, though the bids for these women don’t seem very serious in most cases, and these votes are not likely to be taken into consideration.

Though a sound case could be argued for each of these fine historic women, current legislation is pushing for Harriet Tubman to be the one who gets the $10 bill spot. The support is coming from those who pushed the bill to change the currency in the first place, including Rep. John Katko, who is one of the seven original representatives to introduce the bill to Congress.

Katko says that there are several backers for the movement to get Tubman’s face on the bill.

“We’ve already got co-sponsors from the entire spectrum in the congress. Democrats, Republicans, males, females, African Americans, everything. It’s a great cross-section of support for it and there seems to be a lot of excitement about it.”

Tubman does seem to be the popular vote, according to a Women on 20 poll. Tubman scored more than 118,000 votes, while Eleanor Roosevelt, the 2nd-place contender, just barely crested 111,000 votes.

Many supporters of the Women on 20 movement are pushing for Harriet’s portrait on the $20 bill instead. However, Katko and other supporters of the legislation believe it is best to allow the U.S. Treasury Department to decide which bill the note is placed on. Since they have already announced the replacement of Andrew Hamilton, it looks like the legislation will be pushing for Harriet Tubman on the new $10 bill.

[Image via Snopes]