As the nation struggles to come to terms with its history of slavery, segregation, and racism, there is a growing movement to expunge symbols of our racist past by removing statues of Confederate leaders and taking their names off of military bases, universities, and even streets. Some people want to go further back into American history and are questioning the honor we have paid to the some of the founders and early leaders of this nation who owned slaves. These include Washington and Jefferson, as well as Andrew Jackson who is notorious not only for being a slave holder but also for his inhumane treatment of Native Americans. In fact, the Obama Administration began the process of replacing Jackson’s image on the $20 bill with that of Harriette Tubman, a former slave who was instrumental in operating the Underground Railroad, but that change has been put on hold by the Trump administration.
As the questionable history of the some of the founders comes under increased scrutiny, others have suggested that it is time to remove images of them from U.S. currency and coinage as well. Rather than stopping with Jackson and the slave-holding founders, I suggest we replace images of famous American men and women with those of well-known American animals. Canada already does this on its coinage: a loon is on the $1 coin, a polar bear on the $2 coin, a caribou on the quarter, and a beaver on the nickel. Canadian currency still carries the images of dead former leaders and in one case Queen Elizabeth.
Here my suggestions for new designs for our currency and coinage:
$1—Coyote
$5—Cougar
$10—Wolf
$20—Moose
$50—Elk
$100—Grizzly
Penny—Hummingbird
Nickel—Woodpecker
Dime—Mockingbird
Quarter—Raven
Half dollar—Roadrunner
Dollar—Bald eagle
There are many other possibilities. For example skunk, jack rabbit, and armadillo would do nicely for currency, and turkey, vulture, and sandhill crane would be fine candidates for our coins. I doubt, though, that many people would share my liking for the skunk, armadillo, and particularly the vulture.
In modernizing the images on our money, I think that we should also replace the motto, “In God We Trust.” That phrase did not appear on any U.S. coin until early in the Twentieth Century, and only since 1956 has it appeared on all U.S. money. We don’t have any business putting a reference to God on our money. It is not only platitudinous, but given the venal nature of the American economy and political system, it is hypocritical, unless “God” means the “The Market,” or “The Economy,” which perhaps it does since we sometimes use the expression “the Almighty dollar.”
As an alternative one possibility is “E Pluribus Unum,” the United States motto. It means “All together one.” Also, it already appears on some coins and bills. I think also that the motto on money should be in English rather than Latin which few people understand. In the spirt of “E. Pluribus Unum, I suggest “One Nation and One People.”
The motto “One Nation and One People” is fitting during these difficult times when tribalism seems to be infecting so many aspects of our society. In fact, it would be an apt replacement for some awkward wording on the Pledge of Allegiance. The words “under God” were added to the pledge in 1954 at the height of the Cold War as a way to contrast the US from “godless communism” of the Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union. If my suggestion were substituted, the revised version would be, “…and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation and one people, with liberty and justice for all.”
“One nation and one people” has a fine ring to it.
Thanks Tom! Good food for
thought. I would agree with animal currency and “one nation”. We may have to wait for a new administration.
Hi Lorrie,
I agree but I think it will take more than just a change in administrations. Tribalism is embedded in our collective psyche in terms of race, gender, political affiliation, and even geography (the liberal elites from San Francisco and the mouth breathing rednecks from the South).
The economic inequality in the US is worse and makes a mockery of the idea of one nation and one people. There are at least three strata of people based on their economic status: (1) the wealthy few whose money allows them to separate themselves from the rest of us (schools, neighborhoods, medical care, political power, etc.); (2) those who are getting by but whose financial well-being is increasingly precarious; and (3) the increasing number who are in crisis, who cannot afford health care, who have little separating them from financial catastrophe, who cannot fully partake of society, whose children face a bleak future due to economic and social marginalization.
We cannot truly consider ourselves one nation and one people until that economic gap is narrowed and power is returned to the citizenry.