American Founding Fathers

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BuzzKiller
Who do you think is the most underrated and most overrated of the American Founding Fathers?

BuzzKiller
To me this is easy: Alexander Hamilton is by far the most underrated of the Founding Fathers. He was one of the most intelligent members and he had plenty of influence over the outcome.
The most overrated is once again fairly clear to me. John Adams while having an active role, did not do as much as historians and himself would have us believe.

systemshock2
Damn, you beat me to the punch Buzzkiller. Alexander Hamilton, absolutely. By far the most intelligent and cognitive of the bunch. A self-made man of history, he was brilliant enough to realize America's potential as a great nation, and because of it brought about "The Federalist Papers", which a lot of people would say ultimately led to the constitutions approval. He was also brilliant enough to realize that in an especially volatile time in America, when some of the 13 states were threatening to secede, he pushed President Washington to allow the US to absorb all of the states' international debt, so that this could indirectly lead to them being forced to stay united with the US. Not to mention that as the first Secretary of Treasury, he practically founded the federal banking system, with its influences still being felt today (despite Andrew Jackson's attempts otherwise). Alexander Hamilton truly remains one of the most underrated of the founding fathers.

Alliance
Totally. Hamilton was amazing. i Think the reson wht he was underrated >> forign born and therefore never became president.

BuzzKiller
Hamilton was not President because he was shot just before he was going to run. There is a plethora of evidence that suggests Hamilton was going to run in either 1804 or 1808. As for his foreign born status, that does not matter. In the Constitution it states that any person who is citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution could run for President. This is also called the Hamilton clause. The main reason for his lack of attention rests more with his political party dying out shortly after his death, and all of the Thomas Jefferson loving by historians since his presidency ended. Most historians are either Hamilton guys or Jefferson guys.

WrathfulDwarf
Thomas Paine....read his books "Rights of Man" and "Common Sense". He trully is the most intellectual and most underrated of the founding fathers.

Darth Macabre
Although my number one vote does go to Hamilton, Franklin is right up there for underrated as well...If it wasn't for him and his freemason ties, France and La Fayette would have never entered the Revolutionary war.

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