Joan Paterson Kerr

Contributing Editor, American Heritage

Most overrated:

Alexander Hamilton. I side with Thomas Jefferson, who called him “a man whose history, from the moEment at which history can stoop to notice him, is a tissue of machinations against the liberty of the country which not only has received and given him bread, but heaped its honors on his head.”

Most underrated:

Abigail Adams, who was the hidden asset and “Dearest Friend” of John Adams. Wife of one President and mother of another, she managed the Adams farm and raised five children during her husband’s long absences. If history had rated the Founding Mothers, this intelligent woman would have secured her rightful place.