There was plenty of excitement when Americans learned that Harriet Tubman was set to be featured on a redesigned $20 bill until that idea was shot down by the Trump Administration. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed on Wednesday that his department has no immediate plans to change the $20 bill, and any new designs will be delayed until at least 2028. The new $20 bill was supposed to be revealed next year.
The news of the Black abolitionist and former slave potentially being the face of the $20 bill excited many people for two reasons; one is that a Black woman was going to be honored on currency and two being that Tubman would replace President Andrew Jackson who was the President behind the infamous “Trail of Tears” that forced millions of Native Americans onto reservations.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised considering Trump’s public admiration for Andrew Jackson. Trump on a few occasions has compared his presidency to that of Andrew Jackson’s and claims to have read a lot about the 7th President of the United States.
Mnuchin claimed on Wednesday that the redesign is being made primarily for counterfeiting reasons.
