“Perhaps more significant than his experience in Europe, though, was [John] Adams's experience in his own country, and his extensive reading on the history of the English constitution. In 1779, he had an opportunity to try out his ideas by framing the Massachusetts constitution.” TryingIdeasCountryReadingOpportunityEuropeConstitutionSignificantMassachusettsFramingExtensive Reading Author:Gordon S. Wood
“[John] Adams identified himself with the political theories of [James] Harrington, [John] Locke, and [Charles-Louis] Montesquieu, whose ideas of constitutionalism, he believed, were applicable to all peoples everywhere; they were his contribution to what he called "the divine science of politics."” IdeasPoliticalDivineTheoryContributionPolitical TheoryMontesquieuConstitutionalism Author:Gordon S. Wood
“This rationale, which justified the mixed constitution of Great Britain, might have made some sense in 1776, but by 1787 most American thinkers had come to believe that all parts of their balanced governments represented in one way or another the sovereign people. They had left the Aristotelian idea of mixed estates - monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy - way behind. [John] Adams had not, and his stubbornness on this point caused him no end of trouble.” PeopleWayBelieveMadeIdeasEndsGovernmentMightLeftBehindsDemocracyTroubleConstitutionOne WayBritainThinkerBalancedEstatesSovereignJustifiedMonarchyAristocracyStubbornnessGreat BritainRationale Author:Gordon S. Wood
“More than any other figure in our history [Tomas] Jefferson is responsible for the idea of American exceptionalism.” IdeasFiguresResponsibleExceptionalismAmerican ExceptionalismTomas Jefferson Author:Gordon S. Wood
