I know we're living in the crapsack timeline, but I didn't realize it was a crapsack made of little shit people that the Republicans sculpted like they were Play-Doh and then threw them in the sack and made screaming noises, pretending the little shit people were screaming, before declaring that sack to be their new second-in-command after Trump.
I don't think it is hero worship to say they were smart.
We have letters of enough of them to get an idea that they understood and could debate on a wide variety of topics. They were also able to put together a surprisingly stable government at a time when this wasn't guaranteed.
They were all flawed men in their own ways, but I wouldn't call them stupid.