Alexander Hamilton, A Virgin Islander, Will Remain On $10 Note; Harriet Tubman Replaces Jackson On $20 Bill

ST. CROIX — Most know Alexander Hamilton as a founding father of the United States of America, but Mr. Hamilton — before becoming an indelible member of the men who forged what we know today as America — was a Virgin Islander hailing from St. Croix, after he moved to the island in the 1700s from his native land of Nevis. He began his working career at a merchant company on St. Croix and later served as aide-de-camp and chief of staff to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

When it was announced in June 2015 that Mr. Hamilton would be removed as the face of the $10 note and be replaced, many protested not because they opposed a woman be on a U.S. note, but because of Mr. Hamilton’s popularity. Even Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett voiced her opposition to removing the founding father.

“While I applaud the Treasury Department for advancing the conversation concerning the inclusion of women on the dollar bill, I take issue with the idea that anyone should replace or share space with one of the most influential of our founding fathers, particularly the individual who laid the cornerstone in creating our monetary system,” Ms. Plaskett said.

Harriet Tubman

Well, the people’s voice have been heard, as Mr. Hamilton will remain on the $10 note, and Harriett Tubman will instead replace the slaveholding Andrew Jackson as the new face of the $20 bill, according to the Department of Treasury. Other depictions of women and civil rights leaders will also be part of new currency designs.

The new designs, from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, is set to be made public in 2020 in time for the centennial of woman’s suffrage and the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. None of the bills, including a new $5 note, would reach circulation until the next decade.

Ms. Tubman was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and, during the American Civil War, a Union spy. Born into slavery, Ms. Tubman escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved families and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad, according to her Wikipedia page. Ms. Tubman later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era was an active participant in the struggle for women’s suffrage.