Was Tubman's contribution to our nation's history as significant and indispensable as any of the men whose portraits now appear on our currency? No, it was not.
In fact, we should be changing the notes more frequently, not once every 90 years. I would say to keep Washington on the $1 note, but everyone else is changeable.
In other words, every few years we'll be replacing Founding Fathers and other historically significant figures with politically correct footnotes to history. Here's a likely scenario: out with Franklin, in with Cesar Chavez or Harvey Milk on the $100. No thanks.
Harvey Milk is slated to appear on the $3 bill.
We haven’t had a change in people on our notes since 1928. Before that we had Daniel Webster, Lewis & Clark, Lady Liberty, Henry Clay, a bald eagle, Albert Gallatin, John Quincy Adams, Joseph Mansfield, Robert Morris, DeWitt Clinton, and James Madison on U.S. Notes in addition to those who are on the current series of U.S. Federal Notes.
We have had a lot of people on our notes, just no new people in the last 88 years.
Other nations regularly change their currency, just as I might remind you we do with postage stamps, so why have we been locked into place for the last several generations?
Our coins have changed a lot in that time.
We added Lincoln to the 1 cent coin in 1909, before that it was an Indian.
We added Jefferson to the 5 cent coin in 1938, before that it was an Indian.
We added FDR to the 10 cent coin in 1965, before that it was the Greek god Mercury.
We added Washington to the 25 cent coin in 1932, before that it was Lady Liberty.
We added Franklin to the 50 cent coin in 1948 (and replaced him with JFK in 1964), before Franklin, it was Lady Liberty.
And the one dollar coin... okay, that’s been a mess, but we have changed it a lot in the 20th and 21st century, including Eisenhower, Susan B Anthony, Sacagawea, and now the Presidents series. But for the first part of the 20th century, it was Lady Liberty.
Did you notice that none of our coins bore the image of a President until 1909? Just as 3 of the current 11 official notes don’t portray a President (Hamilton, Franklin, and Chase.)
So why the fuss over this? Tubman is a good representation of the American spirit. She fought for freedom and liberty, she fought oppression and didn’t rely on the government to get it done. She was a strong and capable person who had vision, drive, and a clear sense of right and wrong.
Opposing this just because it’s change is as ridiculous as supporting this just because it’s change.