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United States banknotes (1861 to the present) depict 53 people central to the history of the United States. This list includes (but is not limited to) Presidents, Cabinet Members, Members of Congress, Founders, Jurists, and Military Leaders.

The complete list of individuals depicted on U.S. banknotes (not including Fractional Currency) is shown below alphabetically. The most commonly associated titles, positions held, or affiliations (with dates) are listed. Elected and appointed government positions in the Title/Comments list is fairly comprehensive. In cases where an individual occupied multiple elected or cabinet-level positions, the highest ranking position (determined by succession to the Presidency) is listed in italics. Positions are presented in ascending chronological order. Where available, political and religious affiliation are reported.

Selection process
The Secretary of the Treasury was given broad latitude in supervising the design, printing, and issue of United States banknotes. The Secretary, with input from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, has been given final approval over the design of U.S. banknotes.

Abraham Lincoln was depicted on the $10 Demand Note in 1861, while he was still living. Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, approved his own portrait for the $1 Legal Tender Note in 1862. Both Francis Spinner and Spencer Clark approved the use of their portraits. In 1873, Congress added some direction by including the following provision to govern the use of portraits: “No portrait shall be placed upon any of the bonds, securities, notes, fractional or postal currency of the United States, while the original of such portrait is living.”

The engraved portraits below are from a virtual exhibit of bank notes which are part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

Key to banknote type abbreviations
Many of the individuals below were depicted on more than one note of a series or denomination. In the description of the banknotes, the date in parentheses indicates the individual’s first appearance on a given note type and denomination. When multiple banknotes are listed, the order, though seeming random, is in accordance with the Friedberg Number, in ascending Friedberg order. Large size notes represent the earlier types or series of U.S. banknotes. Their average dimension is 7.375 x 3.125 inches (187 x 79 mm). Small size notes (described as such due to their size relative to the earlier large size notes) are an average 6.125 x 2.625 inches (156 x 67 mm), the size of modern U.S. currency.

Exceptions to the large versus small categories are the CITN, IBN, and RC, all slightly larger than the large size note dimensions above.

Summary of titles/positions
The table below summarizes the titles/positions held, at one time or another, by the 53 individuals depicted on United States Bank Notes from 1861 to the present. The list of positions is not exhaustive, but does address the central elected federal and state officials, members of the President’s cabinet, military figureheads, and the founders and framers of our government.

The table indicates that 53 people held at least 132 elected and appointed positions for a cumulative total of over 763 years of public service.

Books

 * Eicher, John H. and David J. (2001). Civil War High Commands Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
 * Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. (2010). Paper Money of the United States, 19th Edition. Clifton, NJ, The Coin & Currency Institute, Inc. ISBN 0-87184-519-9.
 * Heitman, Francis B. (1914). Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During The War of the Revolution. Washington, DC, The Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, Inc.
 * Rosenberg, Charles E. (1968). The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau: Psychiatry and the Law in the Gilded Age. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-72717-3.
 * Sobel, Robert, (ed.) (1990). Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch 1774–1989. Westport, CT, Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-26593-3.