Markup View

Author: DorianMode

Feb 17th 2011 at 9:47:41 PM

Be sure to include descriptions of what's on 'em, most importantly a who's-who of Dead Presidents (a term that, if you're not familiar with US currency, you may not realize refers to such).

* The Penny: AbrahamLincoln. Freer of slaves, in commemoration of which, he was placed on the only brown coin (the previous statement is probably not true). The Lincoln Memorial is on the reverse side.
* The Nickel: ThomasJefferson is on one side, Monticello, the house he designed, is on the other.
* The Dime: FranklinRoosevelt, the longest-serving president, is on the smallest coin. Fair?
* The Quarter: GeorgeWashington, Father of the country, with a bald eagle on the back.
* The rare 50-cent piece is adorned with JFK, the most recent president on standard currency, as far as I know.

* The Dollar Bill has Washington (again) on the front, and the back is decorated with the insignia of our Illuminati overlords.
* The rare Two-Dollar bill has Jefferson (again) on the front, and the back is a reproduction of John Trumbull's ''Signing of the Declaration of Independence''.
* The Five is the Penny writ large: Lincoln ([[RuleOfThree again]])  The Lincoln Memorial on the back is big enough you can make out some state names on the frieze, though not, [[CommonKnowledge as some people like to say]], every state.
* The relatively rare (ask a cashier) Ten has a gentleman named Alexander Hamilton, never a president, but the architect of the country's financial system and first Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary as in Head-Honcho, not like a SassySecretary).  The Department of the Treasury is on the back.
* The ubiquitous Twenty has AndrewJackson, [[{{Understatement}} of whom much could be said]].  The White House adorning the back can be folded into a cool image of 9/11.  So there's that.
* The Fifty has UlyssesSGrant on the front, the Capitol building on the back.
* The $100 Bill, which, much like the Hokey-Pokey, it is all about, features the inimitable BenjaminFranklin and Philedelphia's Independence Hall (the place where the back of the Two took place) on the back.

Larger denominations still exist, having been printed in the 20th century for major financial transactions, money transfers between banks, etc.  They're graced by such luminaries as GroverCleveland and Obscurity Hall-of-Famer Salmon P. Chase.