WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.899 You probably have one in your wallet right now, 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:04.500 or maybe it's just crumpled up in the bottom 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:06.620 of a backpack somewhere. You hand it over for 00:00:06.620 --> 00:00:08.560 a couple of coffees, or you pull it out of an 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:10.820 ATM, and you really don't give it a second glance. 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:14.500 I'm talking about... the United States $20 bill. 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:16.100 Which is something we just take for granted. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:19.440 Exactly. But you aren't just holding a simple 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.600 piece of paper. Today, we're doing a deep dive 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:25.940 into the Wikipedia archives to find out why. 00:00:26.519 --> 00:00:28.760 Because looking through the source material on 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.699 this, our mission today is to take this totally 00:00:31.699 --> 00:00:34.780 mundane piece of currency and uncover a story 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:38.159 of wealth. profound historical irony. Oh, definitely. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:41.560 And secret anti -counterfeiting tech hidden right 00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:44.719 in plain sight. Not to mention Broadway musicals 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.350 and a decades long cultural debate. It really 00:00:47.350 --> 00:00:49.590 is a remarkable narrative. I mean, we tend to 00:00:49.590 --> 00:00:51.570 view money as purely functional, right? Just 00:00:51.570 --> 00:00:53.909 a simple medium of exchange. But if you actually 00:00:53.909 --> 00:00:56.789 stop and analyze a banknote, it becomes this 00:00:56.789 --> 00:00:59.990 physical record of a nation's history, its technological 00:00:59.990 --> 00:01:02.990 anxieties, and really its evolving values. Yeah. 00:01:03.130 --> 00:01:05.590 And to really appreciate the history here, I 00:01:05.590 --> 00:01:07.510 think we need to ground ourselves in the physical 00:01:07.510 --> 00:01:10.290 reality of the bill first. Because despite handling 00:01:10.290 --> 00:01:12.609 these things constantly, most people have absolutely 00:01:12.609 --> 00:01:15.469 no idea what they're actually holding. You think 00:01:15.469 --> 00:01:17.349 it's paper, right? Right. Most people do, yeah. 00:01:17.549 --> 00:01:20.049 But it's not. It is essentially made out of the 00:01:20.049 --> 00:01:23.090 same stuff as a really durable summer wardrobe. 00:01:23.769 --> 00:01:28.209 The $20 bill is a blend of 75 % cotton and 25 00:01:28.209 --> 00:01:31.489 % linen. Which is exactly why it survives going 00:01:31.489 --> 00:01:33.409 through the washing machine when you forget to 00:01:33.409 --> 00:01:35.650 empty your pockets. Oh, I've done that so many 00:01:35.650 --> 00:01:38.010 times. We all have. Yeah. If the treasury used 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:40.549 traditional wood pulp paper, like, you know, 00:01:40.609 --> 00:01:42.989 the kind in a notebook or a newspaper, the bill 00:01:42.989 --> 00:01:45.349 would disintegrate from sweat and friction and 00:01:45.349 --> 00:01:48.390 moisture in a matter of weeks. Wow. Yeah. That 00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:51.170 specific cotton linen textile blend gives it 00:01:51.170 --> 00:01:54.670 a distinct tactile feel. It has this snap that 00:01:54.670 --> 00:01:56.870 bank tellers and merchants can actually feel. 00:01:57.349 --> 00:01:59.950 It's really the very first line of defense against 00:01:59.950 --> 00:02:02.030 a counterfeiter trying to print money on standard 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:04.930 printer paper. Right. So it's fabric, essentially, 00:02:05.530 --> 00:02:07.829 which makes me wonder about the actual logistics 00:02:07.829 --> 00:02:10.090 of its circulation. I've always been curious, 00:02:10.189 --> 00:02:12.990 how long does one of these fabric rectangles 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:15.650 actually survive in the wild before it literally 00:02:15.650 --> 00:02:17.689 just falls apart because they are changing hands 00:02:17.689 --> 00:02:20.389 constantly, getting shoved into dip jars, folded 00:02:20.389 --> 00:02:23.340 up? It's actually longer than you might think. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:26.699 According to Federal Reserve data, this is from 00:02:26.699 --> 00:02:29.840 December 2018, the average lifespan of a $20 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:33.810 note in circulation is 7 .8 years. Wait, almost 00:02:33.810 --> 00:02:36.229 eight years? Yeah, it endures nearly eight years 00:02:36.229 --> 00:02:38.550 of being passed around before it becomes too 00:02:38.550 --> 00:02:40.870 worn out. And at that point, the Federal Reserve 00:02:40.870 --> 00:02:43.210 pulls it from circulation and shreds it. That 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:45.789 is wild. And here's a fun, tactile detail for 00:02:45.789 --> 00:02:47.729 you from the sources. When the Federal Reserve 00:02:47.729 --> 00:02:50.610 banks bundle and deliver brand new $20 notes 00:02:50.610 --> 00:02:53.650 to commercial banks, they don't just use generic 00:02:53.949 --> 00:02:57.150 rubber bands, they come wrapped in very specific 00:02:57.150 --> 00:02:59.430 violet straps. Violet straps? Yeah, it's part 00:02:59.430 --> 00:03:01.990 of a standardized color coding system. It helps 00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:04.409 bank tellers instantly identify the denomination 00:03:04.409 --> 00:03:07.449 of a stack of cash just by looking at it. Violet 00:03:07.449 --> 00:03:11.030 straps. I love that detail. OK, so we know the 00:03:11.030 --> 00:03:13.150 physical bill is tough. It lives for nearly eight 00:03:13.150 --> 00:03:15.930 years out there in the world. But while the physical 00:03:15.930 --> 00:03:19.150 makeup of the 20 is fascinating, the face printed 00:03:19.150 --> 00:03:21.349 on it introduces a completely different kind 00:03:21.349 --> 00:03:24.030 of story. And honestly, it's a deeply ironic 00:03:24.030 --> 00:03:26.330 one. You're referring to Andrew Jackson, of course, 00:03:26.830 --> 00:03:28.969 the seventh president of the United States whose 00:03:28.969 --> 00:03:30.909 face has been plastered on the front of the note 00:03:30.909 --> 00:03:34.389 since 1928. OK, let's unpack this, because the 00:03:34.389 --> 00:03:37.719 historical irony here is massive. Putting Andrew 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:41.319 Jackson on the $20 bill is like putting a famous 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:44.060 militant vegetarian on the logo of a steakhouse. 00:03:44.300 --> 00:03:46.319 That is a great way to put it. It makes absolutely 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:48.379 no sense if you look at his actual political 00:03:48.379 --> 00:03:51.319 career. Why would Jackson have absolutely hated 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:53.599 this honor? What's fascinating here is that Jackson 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:56.500 was fundamentally and vehemently opposed to the 00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:59.659 very concept of paper money. He hated paper money. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:02.900 Oh, completely. He was a champion of hard money, 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:07.080 meaning physical gold and silver coins. He deeply 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:10.199 distrusted central banking, and he specifically 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:12.780 despised the second bank of the United States, 00:04:13.139 --> 00:04:15.099 which was the closest thing the country had to 00:04:15.099 --> 00:04:17.079 a central bank at the time. So the guy whose 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:19.500 face is literally synonymous with paper money 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:22.839 spent his presidency trying to destroy the institution 00:04:22.839 --> 00:04:25.980 that managed paper money. Exactly. It was a defining 00:04:25.980 --> 00:04:29.060 conflict of his administration, known to historians 00:04:29.060 --> 00:04:32.899 as the Bank War. So, Nicholas Biddle, the president 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:35.300 of the second bank in the United States, actually 00:04:35.300 --> 00:04:37.560 defied Jackson and requested the renewal of the 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:39.920 bank's charter early. Oh, wow. Right during an 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:42.639 election year, too. Jackson took this as a direct 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:45.379 personal challenge. He made it the primary goal 00:04:45.379 --> 00:04:47.500 of his administration to destroy the national 00:04:47.500 --> 00:04:50.199 bank. He vetoed the charter renewal and he began 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:52.319 pulling all federal funds out of the national 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:54.540 bank and redistributing them to various state 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:57.259 banks. But wait, how does closing a central bank 00:04:57.259 --> 00:05:00.100 cause a massive economic crisis? Because those 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:01.899 feel like two different things. If the money 00:05:01.899 --> 00:05:03.779 just moved to state banks, why does it matter? 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.220 Think of the central bank as the adult in the 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:08.860 room, keeping the smaller state banks in check. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.160 When Jackson killed the second bank, he removed 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:15.259 that central regulatory force. Oh, okay. Suddenly, 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:17.680 these state banks, which were often called pet 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:20.480 banks, started printing their own paper money 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:23.389 like crazy. and they were handing out highly 00:05:23.389 --> 00:05:26.209 speculative loans to anyone who wanted to buy 00:05:26.209 --> 00:05:29.769 land out west. So just flooding the market. Exactly. 00:05:30.069 --> 00:05:32.990 It felt like free money, which directly fueled 00:05:32.990 --> 00:05:36.389 a massive real estate bottle in the mid -1830s. 00:05:36.470 --> 00:05:38.810 But then Jackson issued something called the 00:05:38.810 --> 00:05:41.310 Specie Circular. The Specie Circular? What is 00:05:41.310 --> 00:05:43.389 that? It was an order that required government 00:05:43.389 --> 00:05:46.110 land to be bought with hard gold or silver, not 00:05:46.110 --> 00:05:48.949 this newly printed paper money. Oh, I see. So... 00:05:49.019 --> 00:05:51.079 He essentially popped his own bubble. He really 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:53.240 did. He let them print the paper money, but then 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:55.259 refused to accept it when it came time to actually 00:05:55.259 --> 00:05:58.180 pay the government. Precisely. The sudden demand 00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:01.079 for gold and silver caused a massive credit contraction. 00:06:01.899 --> 00:06:03.620 People realized the paper money was backed by 00:06:03.620 --> 00:06:06.579 nothing. The banks collapsed and the whole system 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:10.220 just snapped. This directly triggered the panic 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:14.660 of 1837, leading to a very deep and devastating 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:18.399 economic depression. That is wild. But to really 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.000 understand his view on money, we also have to 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.819 look at the world he came from. Right. He wasn't 00:06:23.819 --> 00:06:26.040 operating in a modern financial system with digital 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:28.240 transfers in international markets. Not at all. 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:31.259 If we connect this to the bigger picture of Jackson's 00:06:31.259 --> 00:06:33.399 mercantile heyday on the southwestern frontier, 00:06:34.100 --> 00:06:36.680 the economy was incredibly rudimentary. Actual 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:39.959 hard currency like gold and silver coin was incredibly 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:42.040 scarce on the frontier. Right. The interchange 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:45.379 of goods was highly illiquid. People relied heavily 00:06:45.379 --> 00:06:47.439 on barter for commercial transactions because 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:49.180 there simply wasn't enough coin to go around. 00:06:49.620 --> 00:06:51.980 There was no common coin, which, according to 00:06:51.980 --> 00:06:54.060 the sources, led to some incredibly dark economic 00:06:54.060 --> 00:06:57.300 practices just to keep trade moving. Yes. The 00:06:57.300 --> 00:06:59.139 source material points out a chilling reality 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:02.560 of that era. Lacking a common, reliable currency, 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:05.519 land speculators, merchants, and self -made lawyers 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:08.540 dealt in enslaved people. Wow. The text notes 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:10.779 that they used enslaved people almost as currency. 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:13.779 In Jackson's world, enslaved individuals were 00:07:13.779 --> 00:07:16.399 embodied wealth. The historical record shows 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:18.379 they were considered the chief security, the 00:07:18.379 --> 00:07:21.259 most saleable, and the major part of all agricultural 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:23.920 property. It is a stark reminder of the brutal 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:26.220 realities underpinning the early American economy. 00:07:26.509 --> 00:07:29.250 Wealth wasn't just gold. It was human life treated 00:07:29.250 --> 00:07:32.470 as capital and collateral, which makes his presence 00:07:32.470 --> 00:07:35.550 on a modern bill even more complex. So I have 00:07:35.550 --> 00:07:37.790 to push back here. Sure. If he caused a depression 00:07:37.790 --> 00:07:40.430 by destroying the central bank, hated paper money 00:07:40.430 --> 00:07:43.110 entirely, and came from an era with such a vastly 00:07:43.110 --> 00:07:46.250 different barter and slave based economic model, 00:07:46.910 --> 00:07:48.670 how on earth did he get on the bill in the first 00:07:48.670 --> 00:07:50.350 place? Did someone at the treasury just have 00:07:50.350 --> 00:07:52.689 a twisted sense of humor? That is the enduring 00:07:52.689 --> 00:07:55.819 mystery. and his presence on the note was controversial 00:07:55.819 --> 00:07:58.920 right from the start. Prior to 1928, currency 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:01.360 notes were actually physically larger. Yeah. 00:08:01.620 --> 00:08:03.519 When the treasury transitioned to the smaller 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:06.860 modernized size we use today in 1928, Jackson 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:10.220 was abruptly placed on the 20, replacing Grover 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:12.899 Cleveland. And the Treasury Department's official 00:08:12.899 --> 00:08:15.899 excuse for this in 1929 is almost laughable. 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:18.779 They claim they chose Jackson just based on familiarity 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:21.379 to the public. The New York Times ran an article 00:08:21.379 --> 00:08:23.339 where the Treasury stoutly maintained that the 00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:25.420 men chosen for these new small notes were placed 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:27.939 there purely because their faces were most familiar 00:08:27.939 --> 00:08:30.660 to the majority of people. Right. They were incredibly 00:08:30.660 --> 00:08:33.259 defensive about it, completely denying any political 00:08:33.259 --> 00:08:36.120 motivation. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:08:36.259 --> 00:08:37.700 You're absolutely right to be skeptical. While 00:08:37.700 --> 00:08:40.419 1928 did technically coincide with the one hundred 00:08:40.330 --> 00:08:43.509 of Jackson's election as president, there is 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:46.110 zero surviving evidence in government archives 00:08:46.110 --> 00:08:48.269 that this was a factor. Nothing at all. None. 00:08:48.809 --> 00:08:51.250 Even more telling, recent inquiries to the U 00:08:51.250 --> 00:08:53.929 .S. Treasury confirm that their records do not 00:08:53.929 --> 00:08:57.549 reveal any actual documented reason why these 00:08:57.549 --> 00:08:59.450 particular statesmen were chosen over others 00:08:59.450 --> 00:09:02.649 of equal importance. It remains an arbitrary 00:09:02.649 --> 00:09:04.950 bureaucratic decision that is just completely 00:09:04.950 --> 00:09:07.710 lost to history. That is amazing. They just put 00:09:07.710 --> 00:09:09.629 him on there and basically said, hey, he's famous, 00:09:09.789 --> 00:09:12.769 don't ask questions. But while the face on the 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:15.090 bill might have been an arbitrary choice, the 00:09:15.090 --> 00:09:18.190 actual design of the bill is anything but. The 00:09:18.190 --> 00:09:20.750 physical notes we carry are basically a historical 00:09:20.750 --> 00:09:22.950 record of what the government was terrified of 00:09:22.950 --> 00:09:26.309 at any given moment. Let's look at the 1940s, 00:09:26.309 --> 00:09:28.549 for example, when they were terrified of literal 00:09:28.549 --> 00:09:31.570 invasion. Yes, the physical design is a living 00:09:31.570 --> 00:09:35.899 document of security anxieties. In 1942, Right 00:09:35.899 --> 00:09:38.159 in the thick of World War II, the government 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:41.000 issued a highly specific emergency series of 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:43.259 notes. The Hawaii notes. Correct. They featured 00:09:43.259 --> 00:09:45.799 brown serial numbers instead of the usual green. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:49.279 OK. And the word Hawaii was overprinted prominently 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:51.259 on both the front and the back in large block 00:09:51.259 --> 00:09:53.600 letters. These were designed specifically to 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:56.200 circulate on the Hawaiian islands. The strategy 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:58.419 was that, in the event of a Japanese invasion 00:09:58.419 --> 00:10:00.700 and occupation of Hawaii, the U .S. government 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:02.799 could instantly declare all notes with the Hawaii 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.879 overprint to be completely worthless. Wow. This 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:07.720 would prevent the invading forces from seizing 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:10.000 millions of dollars in U .S. currency to fund 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:12.120 their war effort. Hold on. How does that actually 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:14.840 work in practice? If I'm a shopkeeper or just 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:18.559 a regular citizen in Honolulu in 1942, do I just 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:20.720 wake up one morning, read the newspaper, and 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.600 realize my cash register is suddenly full of 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.190 worthless paper? How do you isolate a currency 00:10:26.190 --> 00:10:29.090 geographically like that? It was a massive logistical 00:10:29.090 --> 00:10:31.309 undertaking enforced by the military governor 00:10:31.309 --> 00:10:34.110 of Hawaii at the time. Citizens and businesses 00:10:34.110 --> 00:10:37.169 were ordered to physically turn in all their 00:10:37.169 --> 00:10:39.509 regular mainland U .S. currency. Just hand it 00:10:39.509 --> 00:10:42.330 over. Exactly. They were given these newly printed 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:45.450 Hawaii overprint notes in exchange. Ordinary 00:10:45.450 --> 00:10:47.570 paper money was essentially outlawed on the islands. 00:10:47.950 --> 00:10:50.110 It highlights how fragile the concept of fiat 00:10:50.110 --> 00:10:52.649 currency can be during wartime. The value of 00:10:52.649 --> 00:10:54.850 the money only existed because the military command 00:10:54.850 --> 00:10:57.149 said it did, and they built a geographic self 00:10:57.149 --> 00:10:59.509 -destruct mechanism right into the ink. That 00:10:59.509 --> 00:11:02.350 is fascinating. The logistics alone are mind 00:11:02.350 --> 00:11:04.850 -boggling. But as we move past the war, the changes 00:11:04.850 --> 00:11:07.350 to the bill become much more subtle. Sometimes 00:11:07.350 --> 00:11:09.649 they just reflect the literal passage of time, 00:11:09.750 --> 00:11:14.750 like the update in 1948. Yes. In 1948, the rendering 00:11:14.750 --> 00:11:16.470 of the White House on the reverse of the note 00:11:16.470 --> 00:11:19.710 was updated. The initial engraving was done decades 00:11:19.710 --> 00:11:23.190 earlier. The 1948 update was done partly to reflect 00:11:23.190 --> 00:11:25.750 real -world architectural renovations, specifically 00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:27.990 the addition of the Truman balcony. Right. But 00:11:27.990 --> 00:11:30.629 more interestingly, the trees on the White House 00:11:30.629 --> 00:11:32.730 lawn were actually re -engraved to look larger, 00:11:33.350 --> 00:11:35.470 simply because the real trees had grown over 00:11:35.470 --> 00:11:37.909 the intervening years. That is such a charming 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:40.879 detail. The engraving literally aged along with 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.480 the real landscaping, but then the design shifts 00:11:43.480 --> 00:11:46.059 from landscaping to fundamental economics. In 00:11:46.059 --> 00:11:49.659 1963, the $20 bill underwent a massive philosophical 00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:51.980 change. Correct. Two major changes happened that 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:54.639 year. First, the motto, In God We Trust, was 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:56.759 added above the White House. But the second change 00:11:56.759 --> 00:11:59.460 is the crucial economic one. OK. The explicit 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:01.679 promise printed on the bill to pay to the bearer 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:03.899 on demand and lawful money, which at that point 00:12:03.899 --> 00:12:06.460 meant silver, was completely removed from the 00:12:06.460 --> 00:12:08.850 front of the note. The legal tender designation 00:12:08.850 --> 00:12:11.230 was shortened to just state that the note is 00:12:11.230 --> 00:12:13.529 legal tender for all debts public and private. 00:12:13.769 --> 00:12:17.149 Wait, so before 1963, my $20 bill was essentially 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:19.789 a coat check ticket. I could theoretically walk 00:12:19.789 --> 00:12:22.350 into a bank, hand them this piece of paper, and 00:12:22.350 --> 00:12:25.129 demand actual physical silver sitting in a vault 00:12:25.129 --> 00:12:27.309 somewhere. You could? And one day the government 00:12:27.309 --> 00:12:29.450 just decided, well, it's not a coat check ticket 00:12:29.450 --> 00:12:31.990 anymore. Exactly. Before this, you were holding 00:12:31.990 --> 00:12:35.049 a silver certificate or a note backed by physical 00:12:35.049 --> 00:12:38.490 commodities. When they removed that clause, it 00:12:38.490 --> 00:12:41.289 marked the full transition into modern fiat money. 00:12:42.389 --> 00:12:44.909 The bill no longer represented a pile of silver 00:12:44.909 --> 00:12:47.870 in a vault. It had value purely because the United 00:12:47.870 --> 00:12:50.149 States government declared it had value and because 00:12:50.149 --> 00:12:52.909 everyone using it agreed to trust that declaration. 00:12:53.970 --> 00:12:55.809 And the source material notes that these two 00:12:55.809 --> 00:12:58.250 acts, taking the currency off the silver backing 00:12:58.250 --> 00:13:01.350 and authorizing the national motto, were coincidental, 00:13:01.470 --> 00:13:03.590 even if they happened in the exact same redesign. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:06.580 That is a massive conceptual leap for a society 00:13:06.580 --> 00:13:10.480 to make. But once we accept fiat money, the treasury's 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.879 main obsession clearly shifts to an arms race 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:15.200 against counterfeiters. If the money is just 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:16.919 paper -backed by trust, you have to protect the 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:20.740 paper. Precisely. And from the 1990s onward, 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:23.100 the design evolution becomes heavily focused 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:26.840 on thwarting consumer technology. In 1998, The 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:28.639 note was completely redesigned for the first 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:31.600 time since 1929. Right. I remember that. They 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.019 use a much larger off -center portrait of Jackson 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:36.700 and change the White House view on the back from 00:13:36.700 --> 00:13:39.500 the South Portico to the North Portico. But the 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:42.399 real story is the hidden tech. Which brings us 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:45.840 to the 2003 redesign. They added background shading 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:48.360 in faint green and peach, but they also added 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:51.620 something called the urine constellation. I had 00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:53.720 never heard of this until we dug into the sources. 00:13:53.820 --> 00:13:56.320 It is a brilliant piece of covert engineering. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:58.799 On the back of the Modern 20, there are dozens 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:00.879 of faint yellow 20s scattered in the background. 00:14:01.299 --> 00:14:03.240 But they aren't just decorative. They're arranged 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:05.620 in a highly specific mathematical pattern known 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:08.279 as the Irian Constellation. But how does a pattern 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:11.120 actually stop a counterfeiter? How does a machine 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:13.259 know what it's looking at? So the software developers 00:14:13.259 --> 00:14:16.000 who build the firmware for modern color photocopiers, 00:14:16.299 --> 00:14:18.840 scanners, and image editing software like Photoshop 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:22.159 actually program their machines to constantly 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:25.100 scan for this specific spatial arrangement of 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:28.740 dots. You're kidding! No, it's true. If the machine's 00:14:28.740 --> 00:14:31.159 optical sensors detect the Urian constellation, 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:34.559 the firmware triggers an internal block. The 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:36.879 photocopier will literally refuse to copy the 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.389 image, often throwing an error king. or just 00:14:39.389 --> 00:14:41.610 printing a blank page. It literally shuts down 00:14:41.610 --> 00:14:43.889 the copy machine. Yeah. That is incredible. And 00:14:43.889 --> 00:14:45.429 it's not just digital safeguards, right? There 00:14:45.429 --> 00:14:47.549 are physical ones too, like the security strip. 00:14:47.750 --> 00:14:50.490 Yes. If you hold a modern 20 up to a blacklight, 00:14:50.950 --> 00:14:53.669 there is a plastic strip embedded directly into 00:14:53.669 --> 00:14:55.870 the cotton and paper that glows bright green. 00:14:56.529 --> 00:14:59.850 It also has the words USA 20 and a small flag 00:14:59.850 --> 00:15:02.220 micro printed on it. It's wild that we are all 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:04.059 walking around with algorithm jamming patterns, 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:06.360 color shifting ink and glowing plastic in our 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:08.740 wallets, and we barely even notice it. So the 00:15:08.740 --> 00:15:10.740 Treasury's main obsession over the last few decades 00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:13.019 has clearly been this high tech security arms 00:15:13.019 --> 00:15:16.399 race. But starting around 2015, they crashed 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:18.320 headfirst into a totally different priority, 00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:21.360 a public that wanted the bill to actually reflect 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:25.460 modern American values, not just high tech security. 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:28.220 This represents a fundamental cultural shift. 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:32.259 For decades, the faces on the currency were static. 00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:35.740 They were just accepted facts of life. But in 00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:39.639 2015, a grassroots campaign called Women on Twenties 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:42.340 launched. I remember hearing about that. They 00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:44.460 argued that it was time for a woman to be featured 00:15:44.460 --> 00:15:47.929 on American paper currency. They surveyed over 00:15:47.929 --> 00:15:50.750 600 ,000 people to choose a female candidate 00:15:50.750 --> 00:15:53.909 to replace Andrew Jackson, explicitly aiming 00:15:53.909 --> 00:15:56.370 for the year 2020. Which was the centennial of 00:15:56.370 --> 00:15:58.409 the 19th Amendment, granting women the right 00:15:58.409 --> 00:16:01.250 to vote. Exactly. And Harriet Tubman won that 00:16:01.250 --> 00:16:03.529 poll. But the government didn't immediately say, 00:16:03.590 --> 00:16:05.929 great, let's change the 20. In fact, Treasury 00:16:05.929 --> 00:16:08.070 Secretary Jack Lew initially announced they were 00:16:08.070 --> 00:16:10.350 going to put a woman on the $10 bill, replacing 00:16:10.350 --> 00:16:13.629 Alexander Hamilton. Yes. In June 2015, that was 00:16:13.629 --> 00:16:15.789 the official plan from the Treasury Department. 00:16:15.929 --> 00:16:18.610 But wait, didn't a Broadway musical literally 00:16:18.610 --> 00:16:21.029 alter the course of American currency here? Because 00:16:21.029 --> 00:16:23.210 right around that exact time... It absolutely 00:16:23.210 --> 00:16:26.529 did. The sudden, massive, and totally unprecedented 00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:29.289 popularity of Lin -Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton 00:16:29.289 --> 00:16:33.190 created a massive public outcry to keep Alexander 00:16:33.190 --> 00:16:36.210 Hamilton on the $10 note. That is so funny. The 00:16:36.210 --> 00:16:38.029 treasury was caught off guard by the cultural 00:16:38.029 --> 00:16:40.730 phenomenon and ultimately reversed its decision. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:44.679 So, in April 2016, Secretary Lew officially announced 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:46.899 that Hamilton would stay on the 10 and Harriet 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:49.379 Tubman would instead replace Andrew Jackson on 00:16:49.379 --> 00:16:51.879 the front of the 20. With Jackson being relegated 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:54.399 to the reverse side of the bill, but making this 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:56.279 happen turned out to be much harder than just 00:16:56.279 --> 00:16:58.700 holding a press conference. To understand the 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:01.039 subsequent delay, we have to look objectively 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:04.240 at the timeline across three different presidential 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.039 administrations. It is a fascinating study in 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.680 how political aspirations collide with bureaucratic 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:11.730 momentum. Let's walk through it. What happened 00:17:11.730 --> 00:17:14.569 after the 2016 announcement? Well, during his 00:17:14.569 --> 00:17:16.710 campaign, Donald Trump responded to the announcement 00:17:16.710 --> 00:17:19.930 by calling the Tubman replacement pure political 00:17:19.930 --> 00:17:23.410 correctness. Later in 2017, under his administration, 00:17:24.190 --> 00:17:26.730 Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin delayed the 00:17:26.730 --> 00:17:29.700 visual reveal of the new design. Mnuchin stated 00:17:29.700 --> 00:17:33.380 publicly that the $10 and $50 notes required 00:17:33.380 --> 00:17:36.920 anti -counterfeiting updates first, which effectively 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:40.059 pushed the Tubman $20 bill decision to whoever 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:43.559 would be Treasury Secretary in 2026. Now at the 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:45.720 time, that was heavily criticized in the press 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:48.400 as a purely political move designed to protect 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:51.319 Andrew Jackson's spot on the bill. But our source 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:53.660 material points out an official investigation 00:17:53.660 --> 00:17:56.180 actually complicated that narrative quite a bit. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:58.660 That is a crucial detail to include. for a complete 00:17:58.660 --> 00:18:02.039 picture. In June 2020, the Treasury Department's 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:04.740 Office of Inspector General released a comprehensive 00:18:04.740 --> 00:18:07.140 report detailing an investigation into these 00:18:07.140 --> 00:18:10.420 delays. The OIG report concluded that the $20 00:18:10.420 --> 00:18:12.640 notes position in the overall redesign sequence 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:14.720 actually hadn't changed at all under the Trump 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:17.039 administration. Wait, really? It wasn't actually 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:18.980 delayed by Mnuchin? According to the Inspector 00:18:18.980 --> 00:18:22.859 General, no. The OIG found that the Obama administration's 00:18:22.859 --> 00:18:24.940 earlier announcement targeting the year 2020 00:18:24.940 --> 00:18:28.160 was made entirely outside of the standard note 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:30.299 development governance structure. Oh, so it was 00:18:30.299 --> 00:18:32.759 just an idea. It was an aspirational goal, not 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:36.200 a logistical one. The $10 note redesign was always 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:39.089 securely scheduled to precede the 20. And the 00:18:39.089 --> 00:18:41.390 Bureau of Engraving and Printing never actually 00:18:41.390 --> 00:18:43.730 expected the newly designed 20 to be production 00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:46.789 ready until the year 2030, regardless of the 00:18:46.789 --> 00:18:49.089 political announcements made in 2016. So the 00:18:49.089 --> 00:18:51.549 2020 date was essentially political theater, 00:18:51.789 --> 00:18:54.549 not operational reality. Which brings us to the 00:18:54.549 --> 00:18:56.829 Biden administration. Did they speed it up? In 00:18:56.829 --> 00:18:59.630 January 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen 00:18:59.630 --> 00:19:02.130 Psaki claimed the new administration would explore 00:19:02.130 --> 00:19:04.650 ways to accelerate the Tubman redesign process. 00:19:04.670 --> 00:19:07.359 OK. However, The reality of the bureaucratic 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:09.900 and security machinery ultimately won out over 00:19:09.900 --> 00:19:12.799 political desire. An internal department message 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.339 from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in 2022 00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:18.319 had to reaffirm to staff that the debut day would 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:21.160 remain 2030, exactly as originally planned by 00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:23.240 the structural timeline. So what does this all 00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:26.460 mean? We have a public deeply invested in seeing 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:29.720 Harriet Tubman on the currency, multiple political 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:33.059 figures across different administrations promising 00:19:33.059 --> 00:19:35.359 quick changes or reacting to public sentiment, 00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:38.019 and then the reality of the printing presses 00:19:38.019 --> 00:19:40.559 and security features just saying, no, this takes 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:42.940 a decade and a half. If we connect this to the 00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:46.279 bigger picture, it reminds us that money is fundamentally 00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:49.579 about trust. The government has a strict dual 00:19:49.579 --> 00:19:53.809 mandate here. On one hand, it faces immense cultural 00:19:53.809 --> 00:19:56.029 pressure to ensure that the symbols on its currency 00:19:56.029 --> 00:19:59.029 reflect the evolving values, history, and demographics 00:19:59.029 --> 00:20:02.420 of its citizens. On the other hand, the primary 00:20:02.420 --> 00:20:04.599 overriding responsibility of the Treasury is 00:20:04.599 --> 00:20:07.000 the physical security of the global economy. 00:20:07.299 --> 00:20:09.380 Right, because you can't just slap a new portrait 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:11.779 on a bill if it inadvertently makes it easier 00:20:11.779 --> 00:20:14.619 for a cartel to counterfeit it. The anti -counterfeiting 00:20:14.619 --> 00:20:16.559 measures, you know, the wire marks, the urine 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:19.279 constellations, the glowing polymer strips. Testing 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:21.240 and implementing those technologies dictates 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:23.539 the timeline far more than any political wish 00:20:23.539 --> 00:20:27.599 list. Exactly. The slow churning machinery of 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.430 government bureaucracy is often a feature. not 00:20:30.430 --> 00:20:33.450 a bug when it comes to maintaining the unquestioned 00:20:33.450 --> 00:20:36.289 integrity of the currency. They cannot afford 00:20:36.289 --> 00:20:40.269 to rush a redesign and risk undermining global 00:20:40.269 --> 00:20:43.019 faith in the US dollar. It is an incredible journey. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.279 I mean, we have gone from 75 % cotton to the 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:49.299 frontier economies of the 1830s, where human 00:20:49.299 --> 00:20:51.980 beings were tragically used as capital. We've 00:20:51.980 --> 00:20:55.119 seen secret World War II geographic self -destruct 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:57.920 mechanisms, the end of the silver standard, all 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.180 the way to modern Broadway musicals dictating 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:03.099 policy and the slow grinding wheels of Washington 00:21:03.099 --> 00:21:04.960 bureaucracy. It certainly changes how you look 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:07.029 at the cash sitting in your wallet. It really 00:21:07.029 --> 00:21:09.369 does. Because the next time you pull a 20 out 00:21:09.369 --> 00:21:11.450 of the ATM or hand it over for a quick cup of 00:21:11.450 --> 00:21:13.369 coffee, remember, you aren't just holding a piece 00:21:13.369 --> 00:21:15.730 of durable fabric. You are holding a piece of 00:21:15.730 --> 00:21:19.029 profound historical irony. You're holding a canvas 00:21:19.029 --> 00:21:21.950 of secret algorithm jamming anti counterfeiting 00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:24.569 tech. And you are holding the center of a decade 00:21:24.569 --> 00:21:27.289 long cultural debate about who we are as a nation 00:21:27.289 --> 00:21:29.849 and whose faces deserve to represent our value. 00:21:30.170 --> 00:21:33.549 It is a remarkable living artifact of our society. 00:21:34.299 --> 00:21:36.240 Before we wrap up today, I want to leave you 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:39.039 with a final thought to mull over, building entirely 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:41.640 on something we talked about earlier. Remember 00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:45.599 those 1942 Hawaii notes, the ones designed with 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:48.480 brown serial numbers and massive overprints so 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.980 the government could instantly render them worthless 00:21:50.980 --> 00:21:55.180 in a geographic emergency by simply issuing a 00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:58.099 decree. Right. The analog logistical self -destruct 00:21:58.099 --> 00:22:00.740 mechanism. So exactly. Think about that mechanism 00:22:00.740 --> 00:22:03.039 in the context of today. In our increasingly 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:06.319 digital cashless age, what would a modern emergency 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:08.440 overprint look like? Oh, wow. If a government 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:10.859 needed to instantly freeze or wipe out about 00:22:10.859 --> 00:22:12.720 regional currency during a crisis today. They 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:14.420 wouldn't need a printing press or a military 00:22:14.420 --> 00:22:15.839 governor collecting physical bills. They would 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:17.359 just need an algorithm. How would they deploy 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:19.759 it? And more importantly, what would that mean 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.559 for the privacy, the autonomy, and the true security 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:24.559 of the money we all think we own? Something to 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:26.259 think about the next time you casually tap your 00:22:26.259 --> 00:22:28.619 card. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive.