#thenewten

[thecoinshow]

#‎thenewten‬ does not meet the demands of the lobbyists who say it is a slight against women. What say you to this?

[theahasociety]

New $10 Bill Depictions

A few amusing “solutions” for depicting Alexander Hamilton and a women on the $10 bill were drawn by Beth Wolfensberger Singer and recently published in the Boston Globe:

See the original article here.

See more articles about this topic.

[theahasociety]

BNY Mellon CEO Weighs in on #SaveHamilton

In 1784, Alexander Hamilton founded the Bank of New York, the forerunner to BNY Mellon today. Gerald Hassell, the CEO of BNY Mellon, recently wrote an article in reaction to the US Treasury’s announcement to redesign the $10 bill. The article headline reads: “I run a bank founded by Alexander Hamilton, and this is no way to treat his legacy.”

In a video recorded on the front steps of the Treasury building on June 17, US treasury secretary Jack Lew announced that the $10 dollar bill will be redesigned with a new face. In the video, a statue of Alexander Hamilton—the first-ever US Secretary of the Treasury and the person currently on the $10 bill—is visible over his shoulder. But Hamilton goes unmentioned. For the stewards of Hamilton’s legacy, however, it’s time to speak up.

As the Chairman and CEO of the Bank of New York Mellon, I’m constantly reminded of Hamilton’s foundational impact on our country. Back in 1784, he created the company I now run. His descendants remain clients of ours. A conference room near my office even overlooks his gravesite.

In my company’s day-to-day operations, and across the land, Hamilton’s fingerprints are everywhere. He is the architect of our country’s financial system. He was the principal writer of the Federalist papers, which ensured ratification of the Constitution. He created the US Coast Guard. He was George Washington’s most trusted aid during the Revolutionary War. He established the national mint and our official currency—he is the last person who should be stripped off of it.

Hamilton established the national mint and our official currency—he is the last person who should be stripped off of it. I’m lucky enough to get all these daily reminders of Hamilton’s impact. But unlike many of the other titans of American history, Hamilton has no major monument for the public to remember him by. The $10 dollar bill is the only—and most fitting—memorial for everything he did to set the United States on a prosperous course.

Let me be clear: Adding a woman to our currency is long, long overdue. It’s a fantastic initiative that I’m very excited about. The theme for the redesign of the $10 bill is our nation’s democratic legacy. In the spirit of that theme, the Treasury Department has asked for nominees through a Twitter hashtag. It’s hard to choose between so many deserving candidates, such as Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist and humanitarian who risked her life over and over again to bring freedom to others. It doesn’t get more American than that.

I’m not asking to roll back this historic change. I’m simply asking that, in the same spirit of democracy, the American people also get to weigh in on one more thing: who to remove.

The explanation for axing Hamilton is, above all, that the $10 is next in line for a makeover. But if we make this choice on merit rather than convenience, there is a much more sensible candidate for expulsion. Andrew Jackson was a slave-owner; Hamilton was a life-long abolitionist. Hamilton erected the first national bank; Jackson extinguished it with a veto. Jackson killed a man in a duel; Hamilton was killed in one. Not to mention, there are over four times more $20 dollar bills in circulation than $10s. It would be an even more powerful place for a woman to finally appear.

In praising the changes to the $10 dollar bill, Jack Lew exclaimed, “America’s currency is a way for our nation to make a statement about who we are and what we stand for.” I couldn’t agree more.

But what statement are we making here? Given all Hamilton has done for this country and its modern-day fortunes, his removal is too big to not ask the country to weigh in on that important decision as well. Let’s simply extend the Twitter hashtag process to poll our fellow citizens.

It would be a far more fitting way to enact this important change. And I trust that it would solidify Hamilton’s place on the $10. [Source]

Learn more and read more articles about #thenew10 here. 

[theahasociety]

Ben Bernanke: “Say it ain’t so, Jack”

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is among the critics of the announcement to target the $10 bill for redesign:

I must admit I was appalled to hear of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's decision last week to demote Alexander Hamilton from his featured position on the ten dollar bill. My reaction has been widely shared, see for example here, here, here, here, and here.

Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, would qualify as among the greatest of our founders for his contributions to achieving American independence and creating the Constitution alone. In addition to those accomplishments, however, Hamilton was without doubt the best and most foresighted economic policymaker in U.S. history. As detailed in Ron Chernow's excellent biography, as Treasury Secretary Hamilton put in place the institutional basis for the modern U.S. economy. Critically, he helped put U.S. government finances on a sound footing, consolidating the debts of the states and setting up a strong federal fiscal system. The importance of Hamilton's achievement can be judged by the problems that the combination of uncoordinated national fiscal policies and a single currency has caused the Eurozone in recent years. Reflecting on those parallels, as Fed chairman I recommended Chernow's biography to Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank. Mario told me that he read it with great interest.

Hamilton also played a leading role in creating U.S. monetary and financial institutions. He founded the nation's first major bank, the Bank of New York; and, as Chernow points out, Hamilton's 1791 Report on the Mint set the basis for U.S. currency arrangements, which makes his demotion from the ten dollar bill all the more ironic. Importantly, over the objections of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Hamilton also oversaw the chartering in 1791 of the First Bank of the United States, which was to serve as a central bank and would be a precursor of the Federal Reserve System.

In the nineteenth century, a principal public role of central banks was to control banking panics, as the Bank of England would do quite successfully. Unfortunately, in large part because of populist opposition, neither the First Bank of the United States nor its successor, the Second Bank of the United States, would have their charters renewed. President Andrew Jackson led the opposition to the Second Bank, vetoing a bill passed by Congress to continue its operations. The expiration of the Second Bank's charter in 1836 likely worsened the very severe Panic of 1837, which was followed by a prolonged economic depression. The United States would go on to suffer numerous banking panics that would hamper its economic and financial development over the rest of the century.

Hamilton's demotion is intended to make room to honor a deserving woman on the face of our currency. That's a fine idea, but it shouldn't come at Hamilton's expense. As many have pointed out, a better solution is available: Replace Andrew Jackson, a man of many unattractive qualities and a poor president, on the twenty dollar bill. Given his views on central banking, Jackson would probably be fine with having his image dropped from a Federal Reserve note. Another, less attractive, possibility is to circulate two versions of the ten dollar bill, one of which continues to feature Hamilton.

I was in government long enough to know that decisions like this have considerable bureaucratic inertia and are accordingly hard to reverse. But the Treasury Department should do everything within its power to defend the honor of Jack Lew's most illustrious predecessor. [Source]

For more articles reacting to the Treasury’s announcement, click here.

[theahasociety]

Chernow: Save Alexander Hamilton!

The US Treasury’ Department’s announcement last week that Alexander Hamilton would give his place on the $10 bill to a women instead of the proposed $20 bill has created quite a currency controversy. Dozens of articles and editorials have been written coming to the defense of Alexander Hamilton. For a comprehensive list, click here. 

Learn more about the AHA Society’s response to the news.

One of Hamilton’s defenders has been Ron Chernow, the author of the 2004 biography on Alexander Hamilton that has inspired the musical Hamilton which begins on Broadway in just a few short weeks. In an eloquent article for Politico Magazine, Chernow explains why Alexander Hamilton  “deserves top billing on the $10 bill:”

There is something sad and shockingly misguided in the spectacle of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew acting to belittle the significance of the foremost Treasury secretary in American history, Alexander Hamilton, by demoting him on the ten-dollar bill. In announcing the move Lew implied that Hamilton wouldn’t disappear altogether from the bill, but would somehow share the space with an illustrious woman. Since the two would obviously look awkward side-by-side, the strong likelihood is that the female personage will be emblazoned on the front with Hamilton banished to the murky back side.

The desire to elevate a woman into the select pantheon of Americans on our currency is altogether laudable and I, for one, would be thrilled to see Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, or Susan B. Anthony grace the twenty-dollar bill. But to pounce on Hamilton as the victim of this long-overdue change is to correct one historic injustice by committing another.

And talk about bad timing! What makes Lew’s decision so woefully ironic is that Hamilton’s standing has risen sharply in recent years, assisted by a slew of favorable biographies, my own included. And now, with its vibrant young, multiracial cast, the magnificent new musical “Hamilton,” created by the brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda, is introducing a new generation to his manifold accomplishments. Miranda has done something miraculous, making early American history hip, cool, and erudite. Oddly enough, I received the news about Lew’s decision as I headed out for the first rehearsal of “Hamilton,” which is inspired by my book and is now en route to Broadway in July. Lew’s action threatens to undo the show’s splendid work in rescuing Alexander Hamilton from the historical shadows and restoring his luster.

For a long time, Hamilton was a misunderstood and overlooked figure, consigned to a curious limbo. Among the major founders, he was, aside from Ben Franklin, the one who never made it to the White House and therefore lacked the reverent attention we bestow on presidents. He was also reviled by a succession of political enemies—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe—who made it to the top and conspired to slant our long-term view of him. As a result, Hamilton’s face was never chiseled on Mount Rushmore, nor did he receive a fancy memorial in Washington. The statue of him outside the Treasury Department is risibly small. The one distinction he could claim was an honored niche on the ten-dollar bill, lifting him into the rarefied company of political immortals.

Hamilton was undeniably the most influential person in our history who never attained the presidency. That he started out as an illegitimate, effectively orphaned, and penniless immigrant from the Caribbean, who didn’t know a soul when he arrived in North America at the start of the American Revolution, makes his story worth celebrating in a nation of immigrants. His contributions to forging our country were gigantic and pervasive, starting with his starring role in the Revolutionary War, when he served as aide-de-camp and chief of staff to George Washington, and as a battlefield hero at Yorktown.

After the war, he personally issued the appeal for a Constitutional Convention, attended it, and was the sole New York delegate to sign the resulting document. To help ratify the new constitution, he spearheaded the writing of The Federalist Papers, publishing fifty-one of those eighty-five luminous essays. They remain the classic gloss on our Constitution and the documents most frequently cited by the Supreme Court. At the New York State Ratifying Convention, Hamilton spoke twenty-six times during a grueling six-week marathon and got the constitution ratified by a narrow margin in a key state.

In 1789, George Washington tapped the thirty-four-year-old Hamilton as the first Treasury secretary. With its tax collectors and customs inspectors, Hamilton’s Treasury Department eclipsed in size the rest of the federal government combined, making him something akin to a prime minister. Drawing on a blank slate, Hamilton arose as the visionary architect of the executive branch, forming from scratch the first fiscal, monetary, tax, and accounting systems. In quick succession, he assembled the Coast Guard, the customs service, and the Bank of the United States—the first central bank and the forerunner of the Federal Reserve System. Most significantly, he took a country bankrupted by revolutionary war debt and restored American credit. All the while, he articulated an expansive vision of the Constitution, converting it into an elastic document that could grow with a dynamic young country.

One reason Hamilton was vilified by his enemies is that they feared him as an agent of modernity at a time when his Jeffersonian opponents espoused an American future that stressed traditional agriculture and small towns. In a stupendous leap, Hamilton argued for a thriving nation populated by cities, banks, corporations, and stock exchanges as well as traditional agriculture. In his famous Report on Manufactures, he enumerated how government could foster manufacturing and provide employment for immigrants. He shaped, in a virtuoso performance, America’s financial infrastructure in its entirety. On the Wall Street of the early 1790s, only five securities were traded: three issues of Treasury securities, the stock of the Bank of the United States, and the stock of the private Bank of New York—all created by Alexander Hamilton.

Especially pertinent in the controversy over the ten-dollar bill is that Hamilton was the figure in our history most identified with paper money. In 1791, he published his Report on the Mint, acting to establish the rudiments of our currency. He endorsed the dollar as our basic currency unit with smaller coins used on a decimal basis and first proposed putting presidential faces on coins. The banknotes of Hamilton’s Bank of the United States counted as the first paper money issued by the new government. Arguably no one ever put a greater stamp on the currency we all use today, and which has become the world’s premier currency as well.

So where to put a deserving woman on it? The figure obviously ripe for reevaluation is Andrew Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill. For all his populist achievements as president, which were considerable, he was as hostile to the world of modern finance as Hamilton was prophetic. Where President Jackson owned a hundred slaves, Hamilton was an abolitionist who co-founded the New York Manumission Society in the 1780s. And where President Jackson oversaw the forced removal of Indians from the eastern seaboard in the infamous “Trail of Tears,” killing an estimated four thousand Cherokees, Hamilton lent his name and prestige to the creation of an academy in upstate New York designed to educate native-Americans.

So, yes, by all means, let us have a debate about the political figures on our currency and, yes, let us now praise famous women. But why on earth should we start that debate by singling out and punishing Alexander Hamilton, who did so much to invent our country and is finally enjoying his long-awaited moment in the spotlight? [Source]

Want to know how you can have your voice heard to #savehamilton? Click here.

[marinaandthe-froots]

When they officially put a woman on the face of the ten dollar bill in 2020, im only paying in tens

[parceraa]

Now listen to me, I'm not taking away the idea of putting a woman on our currency that would be amazing, but for the love of George Washington replace Andrew Jackson not Alexander Hamilton!