Is it LEGAL?
Yes, it is legal to stamp or write on money. The law simply states that it’s only illegal to deface currency “with the intent to render the bill unfit to be reissued.” Since it is the goal to have bills stamped with Harriet Tubman's portrait stay in circulation, it’s legal. The United States is one of the only countries with this viewpoint and it enables you to share your political insights with your hard earned money.
There are three things that you CANNOT do to paper currency:
- You CANNOT change the denomination — for example, you cannot add two zeros to a one dollar bill and pretend that it’s a one hundred dollar bill. That’s illegal.
- You CANNOT burn, shred, or destroy currency, rendering it unfit for circulation.
- You CANNOT advertise a business on paper currency. For example, if you own a Bagel shop, you cannot stamp “Eat at Joe’s Bagel’s” on a dollar.
What does the law actually say?
Defacement of U.S. currency is regulated by 18 USC 333, which states:
"[W]hoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both."
There’s also a law prohibiting the use of paper money as advertising, 18 USC 475, which states:
"[W]hoever . . . writes, prints, or otherwise impresses upon . . . any [coin or currency] of the United States, any business or professional card, notice, or advertisement, or any notice or advertisement whatever, shall be fined under this title."
18 USC 333 is written to prohibit the malicious destruction of currency, and 18 USC 475 is written to prevent currency from becoming a vehicle for commercial advertising, like for Burger King. Because the people who stamp their bills with a portrait of Harriet Tubman want their stamped money to stay in circulation and are stamping to express their opinions about a political issue, not to make a profit, they are good to go.