Join FunTrivia for Free: Hourly trivia games, quizzes, community, and more!
Fun Trivia
Ask FunTrivia: Questions and Answers
Answers to 100,000 Fascinating Questions
Welcome to FunTrivia's Question & Answer forum!

Search All Questions


Please cite any factual claims with citation links or references from authoritative sources. Editors continuously recheck submissions and claims.

Archived Questions

Goto Qn #


On the back of an American two dollar bill there is a picture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. If I'm not mistaken, the rest of the dollar bills all have pictures of buildings. Why was the two dollar bill so different?

Question #31581. Asked by rcyay.
Last updated Sep 13 2021.

ridgeguy
Answer has 4 votes
ridgeguy

Answer has 4 votes.
To commemorate the 1976 Bicentennial.

Apr 14 2003, 12:23 AM
MackieLynn
Answer has 3 votes
MackieLynn

Answer has 3 votes.
There is (supposedly) a black man on the back of the two dollar bill. He was president but there is not a lot of information to prove it. There were 7 other presidents before George Washington -- look up John Hanson.

link https://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/20309


Response last updated by CmdrK on Sep 13 2021.
May 21 2008, 6:40 PM
avatar
McGruff star
Answer has 7 votes
Currently Best Answer
McGruff star
Moderator
24 year member
3694 replies avatar

Answer has 7 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
If you're saying John Hanson was a black man, that doesn't appear to be the case.
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hanson

There are two possible origins for this belief. The first is that Hanson's grandfather, another John Hanson, was an early English immigrant to Maryland; as was common at the time, he worked as an indentured servant on his arrival in the New World. In 1661, his first master, William Plumley, sold his contract to Edward Keene and recorded the contract with the court of Calvert County, Maryland; similar court records were also used to transfer title to land and slaves. But, in six years, the immigrant John had worked his way out of debt, and a few years afterwards had purchased his own small farm. There is no record that the grandfather was black, but if indentured servitude was confused with chattel slavery, it is easy to see where this belief would have appeared.
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hanson_%28myths%29

I think we've covered the "presidents before Washington" debate before, and I've already strayed from the question.

Here is some history (and interesting trivia) on the elusive two dollar bill, leading up to its re-issue in 1976:

So on 3 November, 1975, Secretary of the Treasury William Simon announced that on 13 April, 1976, the anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birthday, the two-dollar bill would once again join the family of American currency. Because 1976 also happened to be the bicentennial of the birth of the United States, a special design was chosen. Jefferson was not dethroned in favour of Martin Luther King Jr or Susan B Anthony as some had suggested; however, Monticello was banished in favour of the famous John Trumbull painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
link http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A30652445

May 22 2008, 9:23 AM
avatar
McGruff star
Answer has 7 votes
McGruff star
Moderator
24 year member
3694 replies avatar

Answer has 7 votes.
More about "the black man" on the two dollar bill, which concludes it is not John Hanson at all, but Robert Morris.
link https://knowledgefullcircle.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/there-was-never-a-black-man-on-the-u-s-2-dollar-bill/

And pointing out the obvious, John Hanson did not sign the Declaration of Independence, so isn't likely to be included in the painting that the reverse of the two dollar bill was based on. Hanson signed the Articles of Confederation.
link https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/jul/25/blog-posting/no-first-american-president-wasnt-black-man-named-/

Response last updated by CmdrK on Jun 22 2021.
May 22 2008, 9:41 AM
free email trivia FREE! Get a new mixed Fun Trivia quiz each day in your email. It's a fun way to start your day!


arrow Your Email Address:

Sign in or Create Free User ID to participate in the discussion