Rep. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands
News Americas, WASHINGTON, DC, Fri. Aug. 14, 2015: A US lawmaker from an island America’s Caribbean-born first secretary of the Treasury spent his youth on, is among those urging the U.S. Treasury Department to delay its decision to redesign the ten dollar bill which features Alexander Hamilton.
Rep. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands has joined with U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. of New Jersey in writing to the U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to urge him to delay the decision until Congress reconvenes in September.
Plaskett along with Pascrell, Jr. says there are several questions surrounding the choice of selecting the ten dollar note over the more prominent twenty dollar bill that must be answered.
“Ultimately, we, like 62 of our colleagues who wrote to you last month, remain concerned that the decision to feature a woman on U.S. currency should be a thoughtful one and rooted in the desire to recognize her contributions to our country, and not just secondary to other considerations,” the lawmakers wrote. “As a result, please address the above points to inform us why the ten dollar bill was chosen for redesign as opposed to the twenty, the third most widely circulated bill and last major note to be redesigned.”
In July, Reps. Plaskett and Pascrel led a group of sixty-four lawmakers in urging Lew to retain Hamilton, who was born in Nevis in the West Indies and spent his youth in the Virgin Islands, on the ten dollar bill and instead feature a woman on the more prominent twenty dollar note.
The US Treasury wants to add a woman on to the US $10 bill which currently features Hamilton but advocates says the changes should be made on the US$20 bill instead which features former slave owner and the seventh US President, Andrew Jackson.
Hamilton is America’s greatest immigrant. He made his way from Nevis, to the USVI to America and New York City. As a young boy, he became a Revolutionary War hero, playing an essential role in the development and passage of the U.S. Constitution, and rose to greatness others can only dream including becoming the first Treasury secretary of the United States and creating the foundations of the American financial system. Hamilton also founded Rep. Pascrell’s birthplace of Paterson in New Jersey.
Meanwhile, a Committee To Save The Hamilton $10 has been launched, led by News Americas contributor, Arthur Piccolo.
The group recently rallied on a packed Father Duffy Square at the famous statue of George M. Cohan and at the opening night of the new Broadway show, Hamilton, which focuses on the life of the Nevis-born child who went on to become Americas’
Piccolo says: “The decision to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill in its own way is shocking and disrespectful of American history and … worse there was absolutely NO public discussion or input on this matter.”