[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 84 (Thursday, June 17, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H4292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HAMILTON IMAGE SHOULD REMAIN ON $10 BILL
(Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to affirm my support for the image
of Alexander Hamilton to remain on the face of the $10 bill. Paterson,
New Jersey, a city characterized by its Great Falls, is a great city
that was transformed by Hamilton to serve as one of America's first
industrial centers. I have lived there all my life. I still live there.
I would like to share some of the knowledge that I have obtained
about Alexander Hamilton. He arrived in America as a poor immigrant
from the Caribbean island of Nevis. He attended school in New York and
became involved in the American Revolution, was a great general in the
battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth, and indeed at the battle
of Yorktown, which was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. For
those who read history, George Washington turned to him. He was his
trusted aide.
Hamilton wrote 51 of the Federalist Papers. In 1789, Hamilton served
in George Washington's administration, and was the first Secretary of
the Treasury. His innovative mind afforded him the opportunity to use
his new position to provide Americans with financial machinery,
including banks.
Ronald Reagan, our dearly beloved former President, was correct when
he called Alexander Hamilton ``a man of enormous intellectual capacity
and courage.''
Mr. Speaker, I challenge those proponents who want to change the
image on the $10 bill not to a duel, but for a little sanity here on
the floor of the House.
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