The United States twenty-dollar note (US$20), also referred to as the United States twenty-dollar bill, is a denomination of U.S. currency. A portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president (1829–1837), has been featured on the obverse of the note since 1928; the White House is featured on the reverse.
As of December 2018, the average life of a $20 note in circulation is 7.8 years before it is replaced due to wear. Twenty-dollar notes are delivered by Federal Reserve Banks in violet straps.
History
Large-sized notes The back is printed green. The back has several small variations. The reverse has a $20 gold coin and various abstract elements. The back is orange.
The back design is green.
The back design is black. The back is orange and features an eagle. The front is similar, but the back is different and printed in brown.
Two different backs exist both with abstract designs. The front features Hugh McCulloch, and the back has a vignette of an allegorical America. The back design is orange.
Small size notes
Andrew Jackson has appeared on the $20 note since the series of 1928. The placement of Jackson on the $20 note is considered ironic; as president, he vehemently opposed both the National Bank and use of paper money. After the president of the Second Bank of the United States, Nicholas Biddle, defied Jackson and requested the renewal of the charter of the Second Bank in an election year, Jackson responded by making it a goal of his administration to destroy the National Bank. Jackson prevailed over Biddle, and the absence of the Second Bank contributed to a real estate bubble in the mid-1830s. The bubble collapsed in the Panic of 1837, leading to a deep depression.
Given Jackson's opposition to the concept of a National Bank, his presence on the $20 note was controversial from the start. When pressed to reveal why the various images were chosen for the new notes, Treasury officials denied there was any political motivation. Instead, they insisted that the images were based only on their relative familiarity to the public. An article in the June 30, 1929 issue of the New York Times, stated "The Treasury Department maintains stoutly that the men chosen for small notes, which are naturally the ones in most demand, were so placed because their faces were most familiar to the majority of people." It is also true that 1928 coincides with the 100th anniversary of Jackson's election as president, but no evidence has surfaced that would suggest that this was a factor in the decision. According to more recent inquiries of the U.S. Treasury: "Treasury Department records do not reveal the reason that portraits of these particular statesmen were chosen in preference to those of other persons of equal importance and prominence."
1914: Began as a large-sized note, a portrait of Grover Cleveland on the face, and, on the back, a steam locomotive and an automobile approaching from the left, and a steamship approaching from the right.
1928: Switched to a small-sized note with a portrait of Andrew Jackson on the face and the south view of the White House on the reverse. The banknote is redeemable in gold or silver (at the bearer's discretion) at any Federal Reserve Bank. 1933: With the U.S. having abandoned the gold standard, the note is no longer redeemable in gold, but rather in "lawful money", meaning silver. 1942: A special emergency series, with brown serial numbers and "HAWAII" overprinted on both the front and the back, is issued. These notes were designed to circulate on the Hawaiian islands and could be rendered worthless in the event of a Japanese invasion. 1948: The White House rendering on the reverse of the note was updated to reflect renovations to the building itself, including the addition of the Truman Balcony, as well as the passage of time. Most notably, the trees are larger. The change occurred during production of Series 1934C. 1950: Design elements such as the treasury and Federal Reserve seals are reduced in size and repositioned subtly, presumably for aesthetic reasons. 1963: "Will Pay To The Bearer On Demand" is removed from the front of the note and the legal tender designation is shortened to "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" (eliminating "and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury, or at any Federal Reserve Bank.") Also, is added above the White House on the reverse. These two acts (one taking U.S. currency off the silver backing, and the other authorizing the national motto) are coincidental, even if their combined result is implemented in one redesign. Also, several design elements are rearranged, less perceptibly than the changes in 1950, mostly to make room for the slightly rearranged obligations. 1969: The new treasury seal appears on all denominations, including the $20 note. The old presses are gradually retired, and old-style serial numbers appear as late as 1981 for this denomination. Production of Series 1990 notes began in April 1992. 1994: The first $20 notes produced at the Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, Texas are printed in January 1994, late during production of Series 1990. 1998: The Series 1996 $20 note was completely redesigned for the first time since 1929 to further deter counterfeiting; A larger, off-center portrait of Jackson was used and the view of the White House on the reverse of the note was changed from the south portico to the north. Several new anti-counterfeiting features were added, including color-shifting ink, microprinting, and a watermark. The plastic strip now reads "USA 20" and glows green under a black light. Production of Series 1996 $20 notes began in June 1998. 2003: The redesigned Series 2004 20 dollar note is released with light background shading in green and yellow, and no oval around Andrew Jackson's portrait (background images of eagles, etc. were also added to the obverse); the reverse features the same view of the White House, but without an oval around it. Ninety faint "20"s are scattered on the back in yellow à la the "EURion constellation" to prevent photocopying. Production of Series 2004 $20 notes began in April 2003.
Series dates
Small size Type Series Register Treasurer Seal National Bank Note Types 1 & 2 1929 Jones Woods Brown Federal Reserve Bank Note 1928A Jones Woods Brown
Type Series Treasurer Secretary Seal Gold Certificate 1928 Woods Mellon Gold Federal Reserve Note 1928 Tate Mellon Green Federal Reserve Note 1928A Woods Mellon Green Federal Reserve Note 1928B Woods Mellon Green Federal Reserve Note 1928C Woods Mills Green Federal Reserve Note 1934 Julian Morgenthau Green Federal Reserve Note 1934 Hawaii Julian Morgenthau Brown Federal Reserve Note 1934A Julian Morgenthau Green Federal Reserve Note 1934A Hawaii Julian Morgenthau Brown Federal Reserve Note 1934B Julian Vinson Green Federal Reserve Note 1934C Julian Snyder Green Federal Reserve Note 1934D Clark Snyder Green Federal Reserve Note 1950 Clark Snyder Green Federal Reserve Note 1950A Priest Humphrey Green Federal Reserve Note 1950B Priest Anderson Green Federal Reserve Note 1950C Smith Dillon Green Federal Reserve Note 1950D Granahan Dillon Green Federal Reserve Note 1950E Granahan Fowler Green Federal Reserve Note 1963 Granahan Dillon Green Federal Reserve Note 1963A Granahan Fowler Green Federal Reserve Note 1969 Elston Kennedy Green Federal Reserve Note 1969A Kabis Connally Green Federal Reserve Note 1969B Bañuelos Connally Green Federal Reserve Note 1969C Bañuelos Shultz Green Federal Reserve Note 1974 Neff Simon Green Federal Reserve Note 1977 Morton Blumenthal Green Federal Reserve Note 1981 Buchanan Regan Green Federal Reserve Note 1981A Ortega Regan Green Federal Reserve Note 1985 Ortega Baker Green Federal Reserve Note 1988A Villalpando Brady Green Federal Reserve Note 1990 Villalpando Brady Green Federal Reserve Note 1993 Withrow Bentsen Green Federal Reserve Note 1995 Withrow Rubin Green Federal Reserve Note 1996 Withrow Rubin Green Federal Reserve Note 1999 Withrow Summers Green Federal Reserve Note 2001 Marin O'Neill Green Federal Reserve Note 2004 Marin Snow Green Federal Reserve Note 2004A Cabral Snow Green Federal Reserve Note 2006 Cabral Paulson Green Federal Reserve Note 2009 Rios Geithner Green Federal Reserve Note 2013 Rios Lew GreenFederal Reserve Note 2017 Carranza Mnuchin GreenFederal Reserve Note 2017A Carranza Mnuchin GreenFederal Reserve Note 2021 Malerba Yellen Green
Proposed redesigns of the 20 dollar note
In a campaign called "Women on 20s", selected voters were asked to choose three of 15 female candidates to have a portrait on the note. The goal was to have a woman on the note by 2020, the centennial of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote. Among the candidates on the petition were Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.Which country has the least sexist banknotes? BBC. April 13, 2015. Retrieved on April 14, 2015.
On May 12, 2015, Tubman was announced as the winning candidate of that "grassroots" poll with more than 600,000 people surveyed and more than 118,000 choosing Tubman, followed by Roosevelt, Parks and Mankiller.
On June 17, 2015, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that a woman's portrait would be featured on a redesigned note by 2020, replacing Alexander Hamilton. However, that decision was reversed, at least in part due to Hamilton's surging popularity following the hit Broadway musical Hamilton.
On April 20, 2016, Lew officially announced that Alexander Hamilton would remain on the note, while Andrew Jackson would be replaced by Tubman on the front of the note, with Jackson appearing on the reverse. Lew simultaneously announced that the five- and ten-dollar notes would also be redesigned in the coming years and put into production in the next decade. However, as the $20 note was not scheduled to be replaced until after the $10 note, this moved the production date of the referenced note containing Tubman back, frustrating supporters of placing a woman on a note. Secretary Lew reiterated that the $10 note would be redesigned first.
First Trump administration While campaigning for president, Donald Trump responded to the announcement that Tubman would replace Jackson on the twenty-dollar note. The day following the announcement Trump called Tubman "fantastic", but stated that he would oppose replacing Jackson with Tubman, calling the replacement "pure political correctness", and suggested that Tubman could perhaps be put on another denomination instead.
On August 31, 2017, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he would not commit to putting Tubman on the twenty-dollar note, explaining "People have been on the notes for a long period of time. This is something we'll consider; right now we have a lot more important issues to focus on." According to a Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) spokesperson, the next redesigned note will be the ten-dollar note, not set to be released into circulation until at least 2026.What Happened to the Plan to Put Harriet Tubman on the Bill?The Harriet Tubman Bill Plan Has Been Put on the Back Burner