The Declaration [of Independence] was a committee report, and [Tomas] Jefferson was simply the draftsman. [John] Adams's crucial role in bringing abo…

- Gordon S. Wood

The Massachusetts constitution was written much later than the other revolutionary state constitutions, and thus it avoids some of the earlier mistak…

- Gordon S. Wood

Americans, [John Adams] wrote in 1780, believed that their "revolution is as much for the benefit of the generality of Mankind in Europe, as for thei…

- Gordon S. Wood

History is the queen of the humanities. It teaches wisdom and humility, and it tells us how things change through time.

- Gordon S. Wood

As early as 1776, [John Adams] expressed his doubts about America's capacity for virtue. "I have seen all along my Life, Such Selfishness, and Little…

- Gordon S. Wood

[The Massachusetts constitution] resembles the federal Constitution of 1787 more closely than any of the other revolutionary state constitutions. It …

- Gordon S. Wood

[Benjamin] Franklin may be a great philosopher, [John Adams] told his diary in 1779, but "as a Legislator in America he has done very little."

- Gordon S. Wood

[Tomas] Jefferson believed that the United States was a chosen nation with a special responsibility to spread democracy around the world.

- Gordon S. Wood

The relationship between [John] Adams and [Tomas] Jefferson was extraordinary. They differed on every conceivable issue, except on the Revolution and…

- Gordon S. Wood