Jefferson should be admired. He was instrumental in the founding of our nation. Strip the marble off his statues and we find a man. Just like any man, he had weaknesses and fallibilities. That does not make him any less worthy of our honors toward him. JMO.
Yes in modern times it was deemed necessary to emphasize “democracy” over “republic”. So he’s built up to near secular deity status and the other Founding Fathers are ignored or reduced to the “background”.