POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y., Aug. 5 (UPI) — In the weeks since the U.S. Treasury announced it would put a woman on the newly redesigned $10 bill, Americans have changed their mind about who they think should be the first woman to be featured on paper currency in more than a century.
In May, a Women on 20s poll found most people would like to see African-American abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. For the $10 bill, though, a Marist poll found most Americans would rather see former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The poll found 27 people wanted Roosevelt on the bill and 17 percent wanted Tubman. Other poll participants selected Shoshone Indian guide Sacagawea with 12 percent, pilot Amelia Earhart with 11 percent, suffragette Susan B. Anthony with 11 percent andSupreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor with 4 percent.
Among women poll takers, 33 percent chose Roosevelt and 18 percent chose Tubman. African-Americans picked Tubman with 47 percent and Roosevelt with 19 percent.
In June, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said that starting in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, a historic female figure would grace the $10 bill.
Lew announced Alexander Hamilton, the founder of the nation’s financial system and first Treasury secretary, will be joined on the bill by a woman who is seen as a “champion for our inclusive democracy.”
The decision to replace Hamilton as the main figure on the $10 bill was met with some backlash from people who believe the most instrumental figure in the creation of the United States’ national currency should stay put.
Some said former President Andrew Jackson should instead be removed from the $20 bill because he didn’t want the government to issue paper money and because his policies resulted in the relocation of thousands of Native Americans from their lands.
