Who Will Be the New Female Face on the $10?

Step aside, Alexander Hamilton, for the Treasury Department just announced that as of 2020, a woman will be adorning the ten dollar bill. And the race is on to decide just which famous female it will be.

For years, women's advocates have been lobbying for female representation on our paper currency. Yes, woman have graced a few coins in the past - social reformer Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea, the famed Shoshone guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition - but production of the special coins was eventually stopped due to lack of popularity. And now the Treasury believes that it's high time a female graced a bill.

In the quest to choose the appropriate woman for the new currency, the Treasury has launched a public campaign for nominations. Officials will travel the country, gathering recommendations through public meetings and via the website thenew10.treasury.gov and the Twitter hashtag #TheNew10.

The name most often cited so far is Harriet Tubman, a former slave who escaped and went on to become a leading abolitionist just prior to the Civil War. Not only did she assist hundreds of slaves to freedom, but according to Justin Wolfers, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, she also symbolizes major turning points in the economic transformation of the United States.

"The key drivers of the economic growth over the past century or so have been both the emancipation of the African Americans and the integration of women into regular economic life," Wolfers said in an interview. "Selecting Harriet Tubman obviously speaks to both of those movements."

In previous polling, Ms. Tubman received 118,328 votes out of a total 352,431. But there are also a few other renowned women in the running.

Among them are Juliette Gordon Low, who in 1912 founded The Girl Scouts and Frances Perkins, who was the first woman appointed to the Cabinet and served as Labor secretary from 1933 until 1945.

The new note will contain added security features similar to those incorporated when the new $20 went into circulation, to deter counterfeiters.

Whichever famous female ends up on the new $10, she will be the first fresh face in a very long time. Not since the early 1900s have our bills received makeovers, which included the shuffling of Hamilton, Jackson, and Grover Cleveland, who now grace the $10, the $20, and the $1,000 bill respectively.