The best bio of Burton is called Devil Drives. Burton was a nutty guy, but spoke like 6,000 languages.
I always thought there was a connection between these weird and weirdly intellectual types and Jefferson, Franklin et al. but could never find the common thread.
That's not the one I've got; I'll have to look in the library! And you may be right about some of our founders. Some of the most brilliant - Richard Henry Lee and John Randolph come to mind - we also high-level flakes.