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Andrew Jackson is being replaced on the $20 bill by Underground Railroad icon Harriet Tubman.(Photo: National Archives)
WASHINGTON – As far as Sen. Lamar Alexander is concerned, Andrew Jackson and Harriet Tubman are both American heroes who have earned their places in history.
Honoring one, he said, doesn't mean<span style="color: Red;">*</span>tearing down the other.
“United States history is not Andrew Jackson vs. Harriet Tubman,” the Tennessee Republican said.
This week's announcement<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that Jackson, a white slave owner from Tennessee, will be booted to the back of the $20 bill to make room for Tubman, a black anti-slavery activist, has left many in Jackson’s home state feeling that the change is as much a politically correct attempt to diminish Jackson’s legacy as it is to celebrate Tubman’s accomplishments.
In his day, Old Hickory, as Jackson was fondly known, was considered a war hero and a populist fighting for the common man. But as the nation’s seventh president, he also had Native Americans torn from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>their land in a bloody campaign that came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
Tubman,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by contrast,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was a former slave who helped scores of other slaves escape to freedom. She also worked as a union spy during the Civil War.
In deciding to replace Jackson with Tubman on the front of the $20 bill, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew described the life of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Underground Railroad icon as an “incredible story of courage and commitment to equality” – one that “embodies the ideals of democracy that our nation celebrates.”
USA TODAY
Tennesseans' feelings mixed about replacing Andrew Jackson on front of $20
USA TODAY
Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on $20 bill
But many Tennesseans saw the decision as an attack on the historical contributions of Jackson, a home-state hero.
“Dismayed and disappointed would be two words we would use to describe the decision,” said Howard Kittell, president and CEO of the Andrew Jackson Foundation in Nashville.
Kittell and other Tennesseans argue it’s unfair to judge Jackson’s views on slavery and his treatment of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Native Americans in the early 1800s through a 21st-century lens.
Though it’s hard to imagine today, Jackson’s positions on those issues and others “fell within the mainstream of American thinking” at the time, Kittell said, and it’s important to evaluate him in that context.
“We need to remember our history, and history is messy,” he said. “It’s not a straight line of progress. It’s complicated. You can’t tell history in soundbites for Jackson or (Thomas) Jefferson or anyone. Our historical figures were all human, and they had great strengths and weaknesses, just as we do, too.”
This image provided by the Library of Congress shows Harriet Tubman, between 1860 and 1875. A Treasury official said April 20, 2016, that Secretary Jacob Lew has decided to put Tubman on the $20 bill, making her the first woman on U.S. paper currency in 100 years.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: H.B. Lindsley, Library of Congress via AP)
Even among historians, Jackson has long been a polarizing figure, said Dan Feller, a history professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson, a project that aims to collect and publish Jackson’s entire literary record.
During his presidency, many people saw Jackson as a stalwart defender of the union and the savior of the American republic, Feller said. Others saw him as a tyrant bent on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>destroying the country.
The debate over whether he deserves a place on the front of American paper currency is a discussion “not only about what happened in history, but how we ought to treat it, how we ought to recognize it, and what things we ought to honor – or not honor,” Feller said.
“That debate, as long as it’s realistically based upon evidence, is healthy,” he said.
For Tennesseans in Congress, however, there’s nothing to debate: Jackson belongs on the $20 bill.
“Andrew Jackson was a great Tennessean and American, and I am extremely disappointed that this announcement appears to be as much an attack on his legacy as it is a celebration of Harriet Tubman,” said Republican Rep. Phil Roe.
Both Jackson and Tubman should be celebrated for their historical significance, Roe said, “and it’s wrong to prioritize one great American’s legacy over another.”
USA TODAY
'Hamilton' fandom helps Andrew Jackson get kicked off the $20 bill
Republican<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Rep. Scott DesJarlais said Tubman deserves the highest recognition, but not at the expense of distorting Jackson’s place in history.
“Jackson was a Tennessean through and through — a colorful character, a military hero, and most importantly, a man who believed in paying off our debts,” DesJarlais said. “In fact, he was the last president to pay off our national debt in 1835. Rather than push him off the face of the $20 bill, Washington should rededicate itself to adhering to his financial policies.”
GOP Rep. John J. Duncan of Knoxville<span style="color: Red;">*</span>suggested his own solution to the Jackson vs. Tubman quandary.
“When the next administration comes in,” he said, “I hope we can convince the next treasurer to print an equal number of $20 bills with both Jackson and Tubman.”
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