A REPUBLIC IS BIGGER THAN SEVEN MEN ON SEVEN BILLS.

VAULT · 03 DEFEATING THE EPSTEIN CLASS

Published by Langhorne P. Breedlove

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2026 · 2:04 AM ET

Tags: Currency Design · Public Memory · U.S. History · Treasury · Accessibility

Dear fellow American proletariat: Open your wallet and behold the national history lesson. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Grant and Franklin look back from America's seven currently issued paper-money denominations. They were significant historical figures, though one was never president and several histories involve unresolved arguments over slavery, Indigenous dispossession, democratic government and national power. Our money has room for complicated history; the question is why its public-facing story has remained so narrow. (Source 01)

The title of this essay proposes a thought experiment with concrete consequences: replace the historical-person portraits on all new United States circulating currency designs, rather than merely shuffle familiar faces between denominations. That could mean a rotating series of American achievements, founding documents, landscapes, abolition, labor, science and civil-rights milestones, or carefully selected historical figures beyond the current roster. It is an AP editorial proposal, not existing law or an already approved Treasury redesign.

ROOTS · LIBERTY BEFORE LEADERS

The Coinage Act of 1792 specified that early U.S. coins should feature an impression emblematic of liberty. The U.S. Mint explains that debates over depicting George Washington and later presidents led to concern that presidential portraits resembled the British monarchy's coinage tradition. Personified Liberty appeared on American circulating coins for more than a century. In that history is a useful alternative to the assumption that every coin must function as a tiny official portrait gallery. (Source 02)

Paper currency evolved through different statutes, printing practices and designs. Today the seven Federal Reserve note denominations are $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. Their familiar portraits are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant and Benjamin Franklin. Hamilton was the first Treasury secretary and Franklin was a founding-era diplomat and statesman, not a president. (Source 01)

2026 · THE DESIGNS ARE ALREADY CHANGING

The United States Mint introduced special coinage for the nation's 250th anniversary in 2026. Its Emerging Liberty dime and Enduring Liberty half dollar use representations of Liberty rather than the usual portraits of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, and five special quarter designs depict historical themes. These 2026 designs were authorized by specific legislation and do not by themselves establish a permanent redesign of every denomination. (Sources 03, 04)

The Mint also announced a 2026 commemorative one-dollar coin depicting President Donald J. Trump, citing the special semiquincentennial coin authorization. Its August 2026 notice stated that rolls and bags were expected to go on sale later in the year. That unusual example underscores why currency-design rules should be discussed precisely rather than described with the blanket claim that living public figures have never appeared or cannot appear on any kind of coin under any circumstances. (Source 05)

WHO GETS TO CHANGE THE MONEY?

BANKNOTES · TREASURY & THE FEDERAL RESERVE

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing manufactures Federal Reserve notes for the Federal Reserve Board, and the Secretary of the Treasury has final design authority within the applicable statutory framework. Federal law at 31 U.S.C. §5114 provides that only a deceased individual's portrait may appear on U.S. currency and securities, with the individual's name beneath it. That provision matters when a portrait of a person is proposed for paper money; it does not itself demand that every new note carry a human face. Other laws and design obligations still require analysis. (Sources 06, 07)

COINS · CONGRESS, TREASURY & THE MINT

Coin design is governed by a distinct set of statutes, including 31 U.S.C. §5112 and special coin-program laws. Congress can prescribe themes and conditions; the Treasury and Mint carry out design and production within those limits. The 2026 commemorative program offers a real example of statutory design changes rather than a theoretical executive wish list. A comprehensive proposal must specify circulating versus commemorative coins and avoid treating every collector's medal as ordinary pocket change. (Sources 03, 05, 08)

THE CASE FOR A DIFFERENT NATIONAL PORTRAIT

One argument for change is representational: if the nation's cash serves all its people, its designs could tell a broader story than the usual roster of officeholders and founders. A second is educational: the reverses and themes could draw attention to institutions, inventions and movements rather than enshrine the faces of particular leaders. A third is historical candor: retaining a portrait should not be mistaken for excusing every act of the person depicted, and removing one need not erase their role from textbooks, archives or museums.

The counterargument deserves space. Long-recognized designs help people identify notes quickly and reinforce continuity, while many of the featured individuals shaped institutions whose consequences still matter. Selecting replacements will also be contested: whose achievements, which periods, and which histories get left out? A currency series can never provide a complete national history. It should not pretend otherwise.

WHAT COULD REPLACE THE PORTRAITS?

OPTION ONE · LIBERTY, RIGHTS & FOUNDING IDEALS

Depict symbolic representations of liberty, equal justice, constitutional government, scientific inquiry and self-rule, paired with historically precise text and accessible tactile elements. Symbols can be less dependent on judging a single person's biography, but they can also become vague. Every design should identify a verifiable historical or civic meaning rather than rely on patriotic decoration alone.

OPTION TWO · THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT THE COUNTRY

Use rotating, transparently selected commemorative portraits and scenes showing workers, educators, nurses, inventors, abolitionists, artists, Tribal leaders and civil-rights advocates. If actual people are featured, an independent historical and public review should address evidence, eligibility, representation and conflicts of interest. The 2026 quarter program demonstrates that themes can rotate without declaring every individual depiction permanent. (Source 04)

OPTION THREE · THE LAND, THE WATERS & THE SHARED WORK

Feature protected landscapes, watersheds, public works, scientific discoveries, agriculture, transportation and the country's varied regions. Such imagery can present a shared public inheritance without a single human portrait. That choice still demands honest context about Indigenous sovereignty, land use and environmental stewardship; a mountain on a bill is not an adequate substitute for policy.

DO NOT BREAK THE MONEY WHILE REDESIGNING IT

The BEP says it prioritizes anti-counterfeit technology before finalizing aesthetic design, and that more than ten million banknote-handling machines operate worldwide. A new design must work with counting equipment, dispensers, validators and the public's established habits. Currency is a global payment instrument, not just a domestic art competition. (Source 06)

Its published redesign sequence begins with the $10 note, followed by the $50, with other denominations scheduled over subsequent years subject to security and technical changes. A long-range schedule should be treated as a planning sequence, not a guaranteed delivery date. Any AP proposal would have to coordinate with work already underway or explain the cost of disrupting it. (Sources 06, 09)

Accessibility must be part of the brief from day one. Distinctive denomination recognition, tactile features, legible contrast and compatibility with accessible currency-identification technologies matter to people with visual disabilities. The point of changing the pictures cannot be to make cash harder to use. Nor should old notes be declared worthless: a gradual introduction alongside existing legal-tender notes can avoid an unnecessary exchange panic.

THE NUMBERS · HOW MUCH CURRENCY IS PRODUCED?

The Federal Reserve's calendar-year 2026 print order ranged from approximately 3.8 billion to 5.1 billion notes, with a total face value from $108.9 billion to $139.6 billion. The face value is the amount of money represented by those notes, not the cost of printing them. The Fed's 2025 currency operating budget was $1.040 billion, comprising both fixed and variable costs, among other categories. A redesign cannot be priced by multiplying face value by the number of bills. (Sources 10, 11)

The Mint reported shipping about 8.0 billion circulating coins to the Federal Reserve in fiscal 2025, when pennies accounted for a majority of units, and reported that the unit manufacturing costs of pennies and nickels exceeded their denominations' face value. Those 2025 data are historical operating measures; 2026 production and the discontinuation of circulating pennies change the relevant baseline. (Source 12)

THE ONE-YEAR & TEN-YEAR LEDGER

An AP fiscal model should separately price research, public historical review, design competition or commissions, security engineering, tactile-accessibility testing, new dies and printing plates, machine certification, public education, procurement, legal work and long-run production. It should distinguish unavoidable scheduled redesign expenses from incremental expenses attributable specifically to changing portraits.

Consider a hypothetical initial design and review program with $20 million for a multiyear public and historical design process, $30 million for independent security and accessibility tests, $25 million for equipment and production modifications, and $25 million for education, verification and contingency. The total illustrative startup investment is $100 million, not a Treasury estimate or a Congressional Budget Office score. If an additional $15 million in incremental annual coordination and maintenance were needed for ten years, that would total $150 million; combining those assumptions yields a flat undiscounted ten-year illustrative $250 million. Neither figure includes accelerated replacement of the nation's notes or coins, lost inventory or a global machine-retrofit requirement.

A true one-year budget must specify exactly which denominations are redesigned, which existing security improvements remain scheduled, and whether Congress requires accelerated production. The ten-year fiscal model must show appropriations and agency reimbursements, new capital investment, changes in operating costs, cost sharing with manufacturers and banks, impacts on cash equipment, savings from integrating redesign with ordinary replacement cycles, and wide uncertainty ranges. Potential collector demand should not be treated as guaranteed net revenue.

THE LEGAL & POLITICAL TRADEOFFS

Who chooses the new designs? A transparent process might include historians, archivists, artists, disability advocates, educators, Tribal representatives, currency engineers and members of the public, followed by lawful agency approval. The rules should specify how conflicts are disclosed, how submissions are evaluated and why a selected theme is historically defensible. A nationwide vote on art would not override statutes or security constraints; it could nevertheless inform an authorized design process.

Opponents may object to removal of familiar founders or warn about public expense, design instability and the use of national currency to reward contemporary political loyalties. Supporters may favor broader historical representation or fewer individual portraits altogether. Both positions raise questions of public memory and institutional legitimacy. The governing criteria should be open and durable enough to outlast whichever administration oversees the next printing run.

MEASURING SUCCESS

Before issuing new designs, publish project budgets, documented security tests, production readiness, cash-handler compatibility, accessibility studies and public education plans. After introduction, measure counterfeit rates, machine rejections, consumer recognition, accessibility outcomes, cost per note or coin, error complaints, and whether existing legal-tender cash remains readily usable. Evaluate the historical descriptions for accuracy and disclose the deliberative process.

THE POINT

Changing the faces of money would neither redistribute wealth nor reform the Federal Reserve. It is a symbolic and operational decision about how a republic represents itself in an object that changes hands every day. If undertaken, it should broaden public memory while protecting the reliability, accessibility and purchasing utility of currency.

We can respect the past without handing it permanent custody of the printing press. The people living in the republic deserve a voice in how the republic tells its story.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

01 · U.S. Currency Education Program — The Seven Denominations, current portraits and banknote design.

https://www.uscurrency.gov/denominations/index.html

02 · United States Mint — History of U.S. Circulating Coins, early Liberty designs.

https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/us-circulating-coins

03 · United States Mint — Semiquincentennial Coins, 2026 program overview.

https://www.usmint.gov/coins/coin-programs/semiquincentennial/

04 · United States Mint — Semiquincentennial Circulating Coin Program Designs Unveiled, December 11, 2025.

https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/united-states-mint-semiquincentennial-circulating-coin-program-designs-unveiled

05 · United States Mint — 2026 Semiquincentennial President Donald J. Trump $1 Coin Designs Released, August 4, 2026.

https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/2026-semiquincentennial-president-donald-j-trump-one-dollar-coin-designs-released

06 · Bureau of Engraving and Printing — Currency Redesign, technical process and equipment readiness.

https://www.bep.gov/currency/currency-redesign

07 · Office of the Law Revision Counsel — 31 U.S.C. §5114, engraving and printing currency and portrait restrictions.

https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/t31/s5114/

08 · Office of the Law Revision Counsel — 31 U.S.C. §5112, denominations, specifications and coin designs.

https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/t31/s5112/

09 · Bureau of Engraving and Printing — Currency Frequently Asked Questions, anticipated redesign sequence.

https://www.bep.gov/currency/faqs

10 · Federal Reserve Board — 2026 Federal Reserve Note Print Order, July 15, 2025.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/2026_currency_print_order.htm

11 · Federal Reserve Board — How Much Does It Cost to Produce Currency and Coin?, 2025 budget.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12771.htm

12 · U.S. Mint — Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report, circulating coin shipments and costs.

https://www.usmint.gov/content/dam/usmint/reports/2025-annual-report.pdf

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WE ARE ONE.  ·  E PLURIBUS UNUM.