By Dr. Samuel B. Hoff
Since Presidents Day always falls within Black History Month in February, there are bound to be issues that intersect the two. Unfortunately, most such controversies emphasize the disconnect between African American history and the record of American chief executives, especially when slavery is the topic.
In the last few years, a divisive issue between traditionalists and revisionists of American history has been the effort to replace Andrew Jackson on $20 bills with abolitionist and underground railroad leader Harriet Tubman. The idea to honor Harriet Tubman in such a manner has been around for some time but was actually enacted by the Barack Obama administration in 2016, set to go into effect in 2020. However, in 2019, the Donald Trump White House sidetracked the change until 2028. The hot potato got even hotter due to the Black Lives Matter movement, 2020 criminal justice protests and demands to remove monuments depicting Confederate leaders, American presidents and others who backed slavery. In 2021, the nascent Biden administration promised to accelerate the Jackson-to-Tubman timeline.
From a practical perspective, there are many reasons to support the change of figures on the $20 bill. Andrew Jackson himself replaced Grover Cleveland on the $20 bill in 1928, so there is precedent for face-switching. Further, the move to have Harriet Tubman appear on the $20 bill was tied to a larger goal of honoring several women on U.S. currency, as part of the centennial of the 19th Amendment. Additionally, there are several nonpresidents highlighted on American money, including Alexander Hamilton on $10 bills and Benjamin Franklin on $100 bills. Finally, Andrew Jackson fans should be heartened to know that existing $20 bills with his picture will remain in circulation.
The blowback to the protests against historic figures who countenanced slavery has been severe, with accusations that the supporters of such rebuke are wonks, part of a “cancel culture,” violators of the First Amendment and desecrators of the American past. The latter charge has been lodged against the Harriet Tubman plan under the false assumption that Tubman’s life and work were inimical to the policies and preferences of American presidents. A close look at both throughout the 19th century contradicts that stereotype.
Born in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1822, Harriet Tubman was enslaved until her escape to freedom at age 27. She immediately began to assist family members and others to freedom, helping to establish and maintain several secret routes to escape, first in Maryland and Delaware, then throughout parts of the country. As a result of the “underground railroad,” an average of 1,000 enslaved persons gained freedom annually in the decade before the Civil War.
Andrew Jackson, America’s seventh president, was a hero of the War of 1812 and populist candidate who founded the Democratic Party. He was likewise a slaveholder. Conversely, throughout Harriet Tubman’s life, certain American presidents backed moves toward abolition of slavery, although most of these examples are little-known. For example, former President John Quincy Adams subsequently served in the House of Representatives, where he helped eliminate a “gag rule” that prevented anti-slavery resolutions from being read. The Wilmot Proviso of 1846 was a proposal to exclude slavery from any territory gained from Mexico. Although only passed by the House of Representatives, that chamber was controlled by the same party as President James Polk. Later, President Millard Fillmore backed the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California as a free state and forbade slave trade in the District of Columbia. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was signed by President Franklin Pierce. Although that legislation provided for popular sovereignty on the slavery question, Kansas eventually entered the Union as a free state.
Finally, as the Civil War began, Harriet Tubman served in the Union army and helped pressure President Abraham Lincoln to get off the fence and issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Though Harriet Tubman’s later years were filled with illness, debt and family worries, that did not diminish her advocacy for freedom and equal rights. She successfully lobbied for pensions for wives of Union soldiers; was a women’s suffrage activist and founding member of what was then named the National Association of Colored Women; and spent much time in religious affairs as a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. When she passed in 1913, she was afforded semi-military honors at her funeral in Auburn, New York.
Clearly, Harriet Tubman’s contributions to American history have been recognized and appreciated. A gravestone erected in her honor in 1937 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Her last home was converted into a museum and education center. A plethora of streets, schools, highways and parks have been named in her honor. Both the state of New York and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America annually commemorate Tubman on March 10, the day of her death. There is even an asteroid named for her. In short, she has earned her status as an American icon, a fact verified in a 1999 survey, which identified her as among the most famous civilians in American history.
Far from being a divisive force, Harriet Tubman helped bring the nation to its moral senses, pushing the country to become the “more perfect Union” it promises to pursue. Her nexus with America and its Constitution is permanent, for the day of her flight to freedom in 1849 was the same day that the Framers approved the Constitution in Philadelphia 62 years earlier. Her inevitable appearance on U.S. currency is a celebration of inclusiveness and represents a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of our past.
Anyone have change for a $20?
Dr. Samuel B. Hoff is George Washington Distinguished Professor Emeritus of history and political science at Delaware State University. As chair of the Dover Human Relations Commission from 2005-10, he led the statewide effort for a slavery apology by the Delaware General Assembly.
