WASHINGTON — GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump doesn’t like the idea of former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman replacing former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, but other candidates praised the decision.
Jackson owned slaves and persecuted Native Americans. The Treasury Department’s choice of Tubman was aimed at addressing the nation’s history of racial and gender inequality.
‘‘I think it’s pure political correctness,’’ Trump said of the move on NBC’s ‘‘Today’’ on Thursday. ‘‘I would love to leave Andrew Jackson and see if we can maybe come up with another denomination. Maybe we do the $2 bill, or we do another bill’’ for Tubman, he said.
Ben Carson, a former Republican presidential candidate who is now supporting Trump, agreed with the businessman, calling Jackson a “tremendous president.”
‘‘I love Harriet Tubman, I love what she did, but we can find another way to honor her. Maybe a $2 bill,’’ Carson said on Fox News.
Thomas Jefferson is on the $2 bill, which is not widely circulated.
After the Treasury Department said last year that it would put a woman on the $10 bill, candidates were asked who they believe should grace the currency. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said then that it should be Rosa Parks.
After calls to keep Hamilton, the Treasury decided to change the $20 bill.
Ohio Governor John Kasich said he approved putting Tubman’s image on the $20 bill, saying she ‘‘changed the world’’ by acting to change injustice. ‘‘She started a movement. She drove change from the bottom up.’’
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also praised the change in a Tweet: ‘‘A woman, a leader, and a freedom fighter. I can’t think of a better choice.’’