The Tubman Twenty

The US Treasury has announced that Harriet Tubman be on the face of the new $20 bill in a few years. I have to admit the instant I heard about it my reaction was 'They are going to put *her* on the *Ten*?' Then the next instant, 'Wait. They said the Twenty! She'll be replacing that slave holder Andy Jackson! That's kinda cool!' I don't know why my reaction to her being on the $10 bill was negative. Probably because every photograph of her I've seen has looked pretty grim. She certainly is deserving: brave and influential. Don't kill me, but I would like to see a hint of a smile when she graces the $20 note. Did I hear incorrectly or did they say they are moving Andy Jackson to the back of the bill? That would be rich.

For those who don't know Andrew Jackson was the first President to identify with the West, which in those days was anything west of the Allegheny Mountains. Along with his fame in the Battle of New Orleans against the British (which happened because a treaty to end the war of 1812 had been signed too late to recall the British invasion force), he is known for his opposition to and destruction of the Second Bank of the United States, and his ordering of the removal of all remaining Native American tribes from the country east of the Alleghenies (thus causing what we now call the Trail of Tears). Jackson was also noted for causing a sharp division in Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican party which had been the sole political group of much importance since the end of the War of 1812. Thus he is known as the father of the modern Democratic party. Thus, indirectly, he was also a cause of the formation of the Whig party and eventually the Republican party in opposition to the Democrats.

Harriet Tubman's life is worth reading about. Rather than me repeating it, go look her up on Wikipedia!( New Star Trek quote )