Forget our pride in The Post’s founder: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew’s slap at Alexander Hamilton is just plain wrong.
Plans to put a woman on some US currency have been floating for weeks; word was that President Andrew Jackson — a proud slaveholder and plague on Native Americans — would be dethroned. Instead, Lew declared that Hamilton must make way.
And he hid behind process: The $10 bill is scheduled for redesign; the $20 just had one.
Big deal. If “female money” is so danged important, change the schedule. Even the diss-Hamilton plan doesn’t kick in ’til 2020.
Look: Hamilton wasn’t just the first Treasury secretary, he was the architect of the entire American financial system. He made the case for a central bank and a strong federal government that would assume war debts — institutions that proved vital in keeping the young nation united.
A vociferous opponent of slavery, he was the most modern of the Founding Fathers: an immigrant — born in the West Indies — who made his home here in a city that has always welcomed immigrants.
Of all the Founders, he most embodies the American dream — born out of wedlock, he worked his way to fortune and fame, serving as George Washington’s right-hand man before helping to win the battle of Yorktown.
The author of most of the Federalist Papers, he was key to getting voters to approve the Constitution. He founded the nation’s first political party, the Federalists — then sacrificed his leadership of the party to boost rival Thomas Jefferson into the White House over the unprincipled Aaron Burr.
He’s the father of the United States Mint. Yet now they’d bump him from the ten-spot?
Sorry, Jack, find another bill for your PC tinkering. Keep your mitts off Hamilton.