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$10 Bill To Continue Featuring Alexander Hamilton Or Will The Tenner Honor A Woman — Treasury Sec. Confuses With ‘Ham Fans’ll Be Very Happy’

By Alap Naik Desai
Published on: 02:22 PST, Mar 18, 2016

Alexander Hamilton may continue to grace the $10 bill after all. While speaking with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creative genius behind the smash hip-hop Broadway musical composition Hamilton, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew implied that the Founding Father’s fans won’t be disappointed when the redesigned tenner enters circulation.

Lin-Manuel Miranda was assured by Lew that redesigned $10 bill won’t leave fans of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, feeling devalued. It may come across as a surprise for many, who were impressed by Lew’s intentions of honoring one of the great women by replacing Hamilton on the $10 bill. Lew had announced last year that the $10 bill may feature a woman. Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted on Wednesday clearly suggesting that Alexander Hamilton’s likeness will stay on the $10 bill, reported the New York Times. Needless to say, the tweet from Miranda about a statement from Lew significantly obscures the clarity.

Lew’s intentions to grace the $10 bill with a woman’s face appear less than certain now. However, Miranda has made it clear that he is, not surprisingly, a staunch defender of the nation’s first treasury secretary and has lobbied Lew on Twitter to keep him, reported CNN.

Speaking about Miranda’s visit to the White House, a Treasury spokeswoman said, “On Monday, Secretary Lew welcomed Lin-Manuel Miranda to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Secretary and Miranda talked about the enduring mark Alexander Hamilton left on our nation’s history. The Secretary thanked Miranda for the ingenious way in which he has been able to tell Hamilton’s story and ignite a renewed interest in one of our nation’s founding fathers. Secretary Lew also reiterated his commitment to continue to honor Alexander Hamilton on the 10 dollar bill.”

Miranda was quick to tweet about some of the discussions that seemed to cement the idea of retaining Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill.

So far, none of the United States currencies in circulation feature a woman. There have been numerous attempts in the past to get at least one of the currency notes to be printed with a woman’s face. The greatest push to the movement started last year through an online campaign with the hashtag #TheNew10, which urged people to lobby for their favorite female figure to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill.

Interestingly, it was the Treasury Department that had sought public input into the redesign of the $10 bill way back in 2013. Moreover, as reported by the Inquisitr, the Treasury Department announced last year it was going to put a woman on a $10. Incidentally, the Treasury has always toyed with the idea of including a woman alongside Hamilton but invited the public to weigh in on the ultimate choice, reported the Christian Science Monitor.

However, it needed the general public’s opinion on which woman. There is a huge, illustrious list running into the hundreds featuring great women who have done a lot for the country or contributed in making America the great nation it is today. The department was supposed to announce the final redesign before 2015 was over, but the decision was officially put off.

An August poll had declared Eleanor Roosevelt the most popular option for which woman should grace the $10 note. She won the most votes and stayed ahead of Harriet Tubman, Sacagawea, Rosa Parks, and Susan B. Anthony in the race.

The redesign is undoubtedly one of the biggest in the history of the U.S. currency notes. Apart from the fact that it has been nearly a century since there has been such a cosmetic undertaking, there are many technical reasons that demand the change.

The newly designed $10 bill should enter circulation in 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote. It was befitting for a woman to be prominently featured on the tenner. However, it looks like whoever is chosen will have to be satisfied with a shared space.

[Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images]

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