Will Christopher
Contributing Writer
In the current era, cash as a form of currency and method of business transaction is becoming more and more obsolete. Even with that being said, I still feel compelled to compose this article. Imagine a scenario where you are walking up Beall Avenue, and it’s your lucky day. You find $73 waiting for you on the sidewalk. With this, you likely have the faces of Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant and George Washington staring back at you. For most people, this is a complete win because they just found a ton of money. But if you look beyond the layers, and are at all a student of history, you know that the men on our money have some skeletons in the closet.
I don’t want to go into too much detail on this, because some of the historical details are quite graphic, but George Washington, despite being a great leader and the founder of our country, was a slaveholder. Ulysses Grant was certainly important in helping the Union prevail in the Civil War, but as a president, it is a consensus among most historians that Grant failed miserably and ran a corrupt White House.
I have decided to save the worst of the three mentioned individuals for last, and that of course is Andrew Jackson. At the end of the day, if Ulysses Grant and George Washington are on our currency, that is what it is. But without question, Andrew Jackson has no business being on the $20 bill. Since positivity is superior, I will start this argument by playing devil’s advocate and giving an overview of the good bits of Andrew Jackson. To begin, he had a successful military career, even though his most notable battle, the Battle of New Orleans, took place after the War of 1812 was over. He was also self-made, and was able to grow up, become a lawyer and eventually become President despite being born into poverty and experiencing both of his parents’ deaths by the age of 14. With this being said, I still firmly believe that he shouldn’t represent the country on the approximately nine billion $20 bills that are in circulation in this country. One principal reason for this is of course the Trail of Tears and the many other violations of Indigenous people’s rights that Jackson made during his presidency. A second reason is that Jackson was fairly corrupt, and filled the government with friends. In addition to all these things Jackson, like Washington, was a slave owner.
Part of what inspired me to write this piece was another article that I read a year ago that said that Harriet Tubman would be on the $20 bill by 2030. I think this is a good move, but overall my biggest idea for the money, if it’s not former presidents and historical figures, would be symbolic references. I think it would be neat, if instead of putting people on money, we put something to invoke thoughts of happiness and positivity in society. Some ideas could be a natural wonder, like the Grand Teton Mountains or Niagara Falls. If it isn’t a natural landscape, we could even consider something cool like state birds. So whether you like who is on the money or not, it is sometimes fun to look into the history of our country, and think about cool alternative things to put on the American dollar.
