A Woman on the $10 Bill | TIME For Kids

A Woman on the $10 Bill

The U.S. Treasury announced that it will put a woman on the redesigned $10 bill

June 18, 2015

By Stephanie Kraus with reporting from TIME

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ALEX WONG—GETTY IMAGES

The U.S. Treasury Department says a redesigned $10 note will feature a woman.

Move over, Alexander Hamilton! It’s time to share the limelight.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the next $10 bill will feature a woman who played a major role in American history.

The new bill is planned to release in 2020. That year marks the 100-year anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.

“America’s currency makes a statement about who we are and what we stand for as a nation,” Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said on a call Wednesday.

While the new note will feature a woman, Lew said Hamilton won't be completely replaced. That could mean the new design will feature a picture of Hamilton and a woman (or women.) Or, Hamilton will be featured on just some of the new $10 notes. Hamilton was one of the country’s Founding Fathers. He was among the signers of the U.S. Constitution and the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

Who Will It Be?

The Treasury Department has not decided which woman will be on the $10. It is asking the public to share its opinion at thenew10.treasury.gov and on Twitter using the hashtag #TheNew10. The theme for the newly-designed bill is democracy. “We want to know what democracy means to you, to your family, and to our nation,” Lew said in a video announcement. “We want you to share your ideas, symbols, and designs for the new ten.”

There are rules about who can be featured on money. By law, no living person may appear on a bill, and George Washington must always remain on the $1. His wife, Martha Washington, was the last woman to appear on U.S. currency; her portrait was on the $1 silver certificate from 1891 to 1896.

After public comments close, the Treasury Department will make the final decision of what the bill will look like and who will be featured. The bill will have new security features to make it harder to counterfeit. It will also be easier for the blind and visually impaired to handle.

Making Change

For months, there’s been a nationwide campaign to get a woman on the $20 bill. A group called Women on 20s has been calling for a woman’s face to appear on the $20, not the $10. They wanted to remove Andrew Jackson from the $20 in part because of his role in the slave trade and mistreatment of Native Americans during his presidency.

ANDREW HARNIK—AP

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 17.

After a 10-week online poll, the public selected Harriet Tubman as its choice for the new face of the $20 bill. In May, Women on 20s presented a petition to President Barack Obama calling on him and the Treasury Department to change the portrait on the $20.

Treasury Secretary Lew says his department decided to change the $10 bill instead of the $20 because there was already a plan in place to redesign it. “The planning of this has gone back several years,” he said.

U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios says for many Americans, Lew’s announcement about the $10-bill redesign is significant.

“For many of us who have daughters, who have sisters, aunts and mothers, I think for all of all us — we go with what we know,” she said. “Having something on the note that touches the American public every day is very symbolic not just for today, but for our future.”

To read more about the Women on 20s campaign, click here.