Donald Trump voiced his opposition to substituting Andrew Jackson for Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, Thursday morning. During an NBC Town Hall hosted by the Today Show, the GOP Presidential front-runner was asked whether he thought the treasury's recent decision to have the revolutionary abolitionist represented on the currency was an example of "political correctness". "Yes, I think it's pure political correctness," the candidate known for blasting P.C. affirmed.
"I think Harriet Tubman is fantastic. I would love to see if we can maybe come up with another denomination," Trump said, before compromising that perhaps putting her on the $2 bill would be more ideal. The recommendation is in the likeness of that which came from his former challenger-turned endorser Ben Carson, who first proposed the $2 bill alternative. "Andrew Jackson had a great history, and I think it is very rough when you take somebody off the bill," said Trump. "As you know they were going to do the $10 bill, then all of a sudden the Broadway play 'Hamilton' sort of saved that one."
Tubman is noted in history for her role as a runaway slave who made more than a dozen subversive missions to send others on their way through the Underground Railroad towards freedom. During the Civil War she transcended her near mythical status as a cook and nurse operating as a spy for the Union Army. Through her role she was able to lead an armed expedition (the first Woman to do so) that freed more than 700 more Slaves during the Raid at Combahee Ferry. Many argue that her contribution to America is no less notable than Andrew Jackson's was, as slave labor at the time was the very basis of the nation's economy; thus signifying her actions as fundamentally transformative.
It wouldn't be the first time the face on the bill was switched. Before Andrew Jackson assumed the denomination, it was President Grover Cleveland's bust in circulation. And before the era of the Federal Reserve as many as seven different figures had taken a turn on the note, including Hamilton and Washington. The earliest version of the 20 bore an image of Lady Liberty holding a sword and a shield.
Source: youtube.com
