Some rhyme and reason and some willy nilly

Coins:

The penny:

The Indian cent was first introduced in 1859 and depicted an Indian princess on the obverse. A popular story about its design claims a visiting Indian chief lent the designer’s daughter his headdress so she could pose as the Indian princess. Most Indian cents minted during the Civil War went primarily to pay Union soldiers. After the Civil War, in 1864, the composition of the one-cent coin was changed to 95% copper and 5% zinc.

The one-cent coin was made legal tender by the Coinage Act of 1864.

In 1909, Abraham Lincoln was the first historical figure to grace a U.S. coin when he was portrayed on the one-cent coin to commemorate his 100th birthday. The Lincoln penny was also the first U.S. cent to include the words “In God We Trust.”

The Nickel

Designs varied over time until:

1913 – Buffalo or Indian Head

1938 –  Thomas Jefferson  (nobody objected)

The Dime

various designs from 1796 to 1945

1946: FDR

The dime was chosen to honor Roosevelt partly due to his efforts in the founding of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later renamed the March of Dimes), which originally raised money for polio research and to aid victims of the disease and their families.[17] The public had been urged to send in a dime to the Foundation, and by Roosevelt’s death, the Foundation was already popularly known as the “March of Dimes.”

The Quarter

Lady Liberty for a long time.

1932 George Washington

Half dollar (not too much in use these days)

Designs 1794 to 1947
1948 Benjamin Franklin (why?)
1964 – JFK (one of many mad rushes keep his likeness and name in the public sphere)

Dollar (colloquially referred to as a silver dollar)

meh  – never popular and became less so as the silver content was reduced.  Production for general circulation ceased December 2011.

1971 – IKE.  (why?)
1979-81 and 1999 Susan B Anthony (reduced in size to signify lower wages for women?  About as popular as New Coke)

Currency – US Gov interactive

One Dollar: (portraits)

1862 – Salmon P Chase
1869 – George Washington
1886 – Martha Washington
1896 – George and Martha Washington
1899 – Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S Grant
1918 – George Washington

Five dollar bill

various people

1914 – Abraham Lincoln

Ten dollar bill

1861 – Abraham Lincoln
others
1914 – First Federal Reserve note: Andrew Jackson
1929: Alexander Hamilton

$20 Bill –

1861 – Lady Liberty
others
1914:  Grover Cleveland (why?)
1928 – Jackson promoted from the $10 bill

$50 bill

various
1913 – Ulysses Grant (Sherman would have caused more heads to explode)
1914 – Federal Reserve Note  — Grant

$100 bill

various
1914 – Benjamin Franklin

By the early 20th Century, the tradition of portraits of dead people on coins and currency was firmly established. Many faces on currency, including Washington and Lincoln, existed before but none as often as those two.  Settling on Washington for the $1 and Lincoln on the $5 probably seemed natural.  But Cleveland and Jackson?

Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury seems like decent enough choice for the $10 but he wasn’t an early choice.

Jackson should have been retired along with Cleveland in 1928.  I’m not too sure about retaining Grant on the $50 and Franklin on the $100 either.  Can we bring the Buffalo nickel out of retirement?  (Jefferson was a spendthrift; so, it’s seems inappropriate to have him on a coin.)

There are many ways to honor those that were important in US history.  It’s probably not important that portraits of some of those historical figures appear on our coins and currency as either an honor or remembrance.  We hardly pay much attention to such images.  But it might be nice if those selected had some obvious relevance to money.

A coin and a bill for Washington and Lincoln seems fitting.  Both were great and the leadership needed in their time; plus money to cover war costs was an issue for both.   But doesn’t FDR deserve more than one thin dime?  Probably too controversial even now to put him on a bill.  

As an alternative and indirect reference to FDR, my choice for replacing Jackson on the $20 is Frances Perkins. She had an impact on money for ordinary people in championing the minimum wage.  Her face on a $20 would be what we should aspire to achieving for it in the not too far distant future, along with an everyday reminder of the woman that made the minimum wage happen at the federal level.  History and aspiration.  What’s not to like about that?

Oh well, maybe fifty years from now Francis Perkins and Elizabeth Warren can be given the $50 bill.

Update: ABCNews7, Houston, TX – April 30, 2016 – Lunchroom Lunacy: Cops investigate $2 bill spent on school lunch

When you think of felony forgery your thoughts might turn to Al Capone or Bonnie and Clyde shooting it out with the Texas Rangers.

Not for some local school cops. For one day, public enemy number one when it came to forgery was 13-year-old eighth grader Danesiah Neal at Fort Bend Independent School District’s Christa McAuliffe Middle School.

Now 14, Daneisha was hoping to eat that day’s lunch of chicken tenders with her classmates using a $2 bill given to her by her grandmother when she was stopped by the long arm of the law.

“I went to the lunch line and they said my $2 bill was fake,” Danesiah told Ted Oberg Investigates. “They gave it to the police. Then they sent me to the police office. A police officer said I could be in big trouble.”

Not just big trouble. Third-degree felony trouble.

It was sorted out later and Daneisha wasn’t charged with a crime, but she didn’t eat lunch that day because her $2 bill was confiscated and therefore, she couldn’t buy lunch.