I'm all for finally getting a female face back on U.S. currency, but why demote Alexander Hamilton? Hamilton, whose image currently adorns the $10 bill, is among the most admirable of the founding generation. But because he lacks a constituency, he's an easy target. And that's too bad. 

Unlike most of the founders, Hamilton rose from humble beginnings. He was born out of wedlock on the island of Nevis and raised, mostly in poverty, on St. Croix. He had little if any formal education. Yet he became one of the most influential members of the Constitutional Convention as well as the first and, some think still the greatest, secretary of the Treasury.

Hamilton was a genuine war hero. Whether or not one believes the tale that his cannon shot the head off a portrait of King George II inside Nassau Hall at what is now Princeton University, there is no question that his bravery and skill brought the young captain of artillery to the attention of General George Washington, who would become his mentor.