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Women on Currency Notes in the United States

Harriet Tubman might appear on the $20 bill by 2020. She would not be the first woman featured on a
US bank note though:

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/tubman.jpg)
Almost a full century after gaining independence from the Imperial Crown, Americans first issue their
one-dollar bill in 1862 as a Legal Tender Note (United States Note) with a portrait of Salmon P. Chase,
the Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln (h p://metricpioneer.com/metrication-
pledge):

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-1-lt-1862-fr-16c.jpg)
Americans issue the first $5 bill (h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_five-dollar_bill) in 1861 as a
Demand Note with a small portrait of Alexander Hamilton on the right and an allegorical female statue
representing freedom on the left side of the obverse. Americans issue the first $5 United States Note
(h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_five-dollar_bill) in 1862 with a face design similar to the
previous Demand Note and a completely revised reverse:

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-5-lt-1862-fr-61a.jpg)
American currency notes mostly feature portraits of named men for the first quarter century. Only
unnamed allegorical women occasionally appear during this period:

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-20-lt-1863-fr-126b.jpg)

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-100-lt-1863-fr-167.jpg)

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-nbn-ma-lowell-986-orig-500-206-a.jpg)

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-1000-ibn-1863-fr-201_proof.jpg)

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-1000-ibn-1863-fr-206_proof.jpg)

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-5000-ibn-1863-fr-202_proof.jpg)

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-5000-ibn-1865-fr-212h_proof.jpg)

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-500-lt-1869-fr-184.jpg)
This 1875 specimen actually shows a nipple. Woo Hoo!

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-500-lt-1875-fr-185b.jpg)
Americans redesign the $1 United States Note (h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one-
dollar_bill) in 1869 with a portrait of George Washington (h p://metricpioneer.com/events.html) in the
center and a vigne e of Christopher Columbus (h p://metricpioneer.com/metrication-america) sighting
land to the left. Here is an 1880 specimen:

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-1-lt-1880-fr-29.jpg)
More unnamed allegorical women appear in 1880:

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-5-lt-1880-fr-72.jpg)

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-20-lt-1880-fr-145.jpg)

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-50-lt-1880-fr-164.jpg)

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-100-lt-1880-fr-181.jpg)

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-500-lt-1880-fr-185l.jpg)
It was twenty years after passing the Metric Act (h p://metricpioneer.com) that Americans first feature a
woman, Martha Washington, on United States currency on the $1 silver certificate
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(h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_certificate_(United_States)) in 1886:

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-1-sc-1886-fr-217.jpg)
Here is a beautiful unnamed allegorical woman representing Liberty appearing in 1891:

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-1000-sc-1891-fr-346e.jpg)
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Americans issue the famous Educational Series (h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_Series) Silver

Certificate in 1896. Americans cover the entire obverse with artwork of allegorical figures representing
History Instructing Youth in front of Washington District of Columbia on the $1 bill. Americans feature
portraits of George and Martha Washington surrounded by an ornate design on the reverse. The
Educational Series (h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_Series) include the $2 and $5 bills as well:

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-1-sc-1896-fr-224-3923429.jpg)

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-2-sc-1896-fr-247.jpg)

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-5-sc-1896-fr-270.jpg)
Americans issue a new $5 silver certificate with a portrait of Running Antelope
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(h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Antelope) in 1899 deviating from the monotony of featuring only

pale face:

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-5-sc-1899-fr-271.jpg)
Americans issue a $10 bill with Lewis and Clark, three women and a buffalo at the turn of the century:

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-10-lt-1901-fr-114.jpg)
Americans continue issuing unnamed allegorical women when 1914 rolls around as you can see on the
$50 and $100 bill:

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-50-frn-1914-fr-1053.jpg)

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(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/us-100-frn-1914-fr-1074a.jpg)
Look at the pose of those three women on the hundred-dollar bill. Do you think the scene seems
strikingly similar on the BIPM (h p://www.bipm.org/en/about-us) seal (h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
International_Bureau_of_Weights_and_Measures)?

(h ps://metricpioneer.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/bipm-logo-7-cm.jpg) American women have only

had the right to vote since 1920 thanks to the Nineteenth Amendment (h ps://
metricpioneer.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/american-freedom-from-monarchy-religion-slavery-and-
american-civil-rights-voting-marriage-measurement/). It is fi ing that we commemorate this Centennial
by featuring a woman on the twenty-dollar bill by 2020 (h p://www.womenon20s.org).

PUBLISHED: 23 May 2015 (2015-05-23T19:50:31-0700)

FILED UNDER: Uncategorized

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