In recent years, the $20 bill, along with the $5, $10, and $100, have gone through more facelifts than Joan Rivers. However, the face on the twenty dollar bill remains the same. Andrew Jackson. My mother said that when she was in school (in the 60s and 70s) she never learned about American atrocities. But now our nation has become more progressive (uh...) in education.
Andrew Jackson was responsible for beginning what would become the Trail of Tears in which several thousand Cherokee Indians were relocated to various places as the United States encroached further west. During the Trail of Tears, thousands died and the rest had to start their lives over completely, some never recovering from the relocation.
Andrew Jackson, ironically enough, was also very suspicious of the banking system. He didn't like the idea of greenback money either. So why does he get a place on our dollar bill?
So who do we replace him with? Well, last night, I came up with a few ideas.
Patrick Henry - Patrick Henry was a devoted American Revolutionary. Before the war, he was an outspoken member of the House of Burgesses. He fought the British during the war, and when we declared our independence, he was an active member in the Continental Congress. When the Articles of Confederation were scrapped (illegally, by all technicality) he declined a position in the Congress, citing that he "smelt a rat." I'm not exaclty sure what metallurgy has to do with vermin and then what that has to do with the US legislature, but it seems noble enough.
Dred Scott - Dred Scott was a slave who had lived in Illinois. His master then moved (with him) down to Missouri and then to Louisiana where slavery was still legal. However, slavery was illegal in Illinois, so Scott decided to sue for his freedom. He won the case initially; however, it was overturned in the higher courts, on the claim that the government could not deprive a person of his property.
Woodrow Wilson - Woodrow Wilson was famous for leading the US through the first World War. However, more important than that was what he did afterward. He attempted to institute a League of Nations. While the League of Nations was founded, it was not founded on his ideas. Had it been founded on his ideas, we very well might have never had a second World War. It sucks that Congress never does good things when a political genius is president.
Theodore Roosevelt - Teddy Roosevelt was famous for his active trust busting. He was the first president to actively break down oppressive monopolies. He also survived an assassination attempt. While giving a speech, a man from the audience fired a bullet which hit a bunch of papers in Teddy's shirt pocket. Roosevelt, uninjured, continued giving his speech, unfettered. Teddy is also the inspiration for the Teddy Bear, and is responsible for the preservation of our national parks and the creation of the system thereof. Plus, wouldn't it be awesome to pull out a $20 and see his silly beaver-looking face smiling at you?
Those are my ideas. Anyone with any arguments or additions, feel free to comment (oh, I'm such a whore).
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i like teh new bills, but they do look like play money
I like the idea of Dread Scott. but it doesn't really matter to me. In one way or another, probably all of the presidents were corrupt. who knows???
I am not a "progressive" if that is a code word for liberal or the other way around. I am a conservative who believes in free market pricniples, low marginal tax rates if possible, and minimal government controls over the economy. I like some liberal social goals but I think that government is a mischievious engine for social reform that can boomerang on the reformers.
But I just happened to see the blog on Dred Scott and I think that is a fantastic idea to put his image on the $20 and retire Andy Jackson for a while. He would be the first African-American to appear on US currency I think. I am not sure there exists a photograph of Scott but I have seen his painting. Scott's story is inspriational to anyone who loves freedom. The poor man was freed by the two sons of his first master Peter Blow in 1858 but he only lived another nine months as a free man until he died of tuberculosis. Thw widow of his other "owner" who was Dr. John Emmerson remarried that same year and ironically married a Missouri man who was still very much opposed to slavery. So Mrs. Emmerson "sold" Scott back to the Blow family and the two sons of Peter Blow not only freed Scott and his wife Harriet and their two daughters but they also paid all of Scott's legal fees. They had known him and were friends of his growing up. Scott had previously offered Mrs. Emmerson $300 to pay for his own freedom but she refused the offer.
Scott lived in Rock Island, Illinois from 1833 to 1836 and then lived near Fort Snelling, Wisconsin Territory after 1836 where he met his wife Harriet. Today, both liberals and conservatives should hate the majority opinion (7 to 2) written by Chief Justice Roger B. Tanney of Maryland. Five of the justices were from slave-holding families and two more were also appointed by pro-slavery presidents. Liberals or progressives should hate the decision for the backward reactionary social view it represents but conservatives should also hate the decision because Tanney never cited any provision of the Constitution to justify his claim that a freed Aftican-American could never be a citizen with standing in court to sue. He made that up out of whole cloth and most conservatives believe justices should not legislate from the bench or try to read new rights into the penumbra of the Constitution that are not written in the document. Tanney was one of the great sophists of the 19th Century who nevertheless fooled good and decent people into thinking he knew Constitutional law when all he did was manipulate it to serve his own prejudices.
I don't think there was a photograph for many of the people on currency (Alex Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, et al.)
--Mike
I love wilson he was a great guy. To bad no one listened to him, kind of a slap in the face when world war 2 came around.
Then again there is nothing like speak softly and carry a big stick. For instance taking the Navy out for a joy ride hoping to scare the shit out of the japanese. Wasn't it nice that they gave us a nice welcome. Teddy also helped out Russian and Japanese relations i believe. Of course they both pretty much ended up hating him after that, but its the fact that us americans get out there and help.
I don't think Jackson was such a bad guy. Yeah he kinda started the trail of tears, but he was doing it for their own good. It was either relocate in hopes of salvaging some of their culture, or let them stay in their present location and what would happen then? Assimilation..esh. I believe reading some place that he did actually have really good relations with the native americans. (I swear i read this in my ap history book that he even had some sort of an adopted native american son)
I think he was trying IN THEORY to look out for them.
I have been interested in Jackson and and he was shot a few times too. (surviving an assassination such as Roosevelt except i think Jackson brought this on himself)
He did pretty much kill the BUS, which had to much power over the United States money.
All and all i think Jackson is a pretty good candidate to be on the 20. If they ever come up with something new i think Roosevelt or Wilson should be on it..lol
The problem with Wilson is that the man was the only President to have endorsed the KKK. A dumb decision for an otherwise honorable man.
Woodrow Wilson was born in Georgia and lived in Virginia before he went to Princeton and became governor of New Jersey. His record on many things was fine and he tried hard to launch the League of Nations. But his record on civil rights was terrible. Segregation in government hiring fot far worse under Wilson. He cannot be called a progressive when it comes to racial relations of the World War I era.