““The natural aristocracy, said Jefferson, was one of virtue or talents, and he contrasted this with an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth. The latter, he said, was a “mischievous ingredient in government,” which he trusted would be rejected in popular elections.5 All very well, replied Adams impishly, but “what chance have Talents and Virtue in competition with Wealth and Birth?” Or beauty, he added, no doubt recalling how he had been mocked as ‘His Rotundity.’ “Beauty, Grace, Figure, Attitude, Movement, have in innumerable Instances prevailed over Wealth, Birth, Talents, Virtue and every thing else.”6 Then there was the natural deference paid to eminent families.””
![“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 Littleness even in New England, that I sometimes tremble to think that, altho We are engaged in the best Cause that ever employed the Human Heart, yet the…” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a6f/gordon-s-wood-13199_america_as-early-as-1776-john-adams-expressed-hi_2453880.jpg)
![“Deeply reluctant to judge a Founder as wanting in moral force, modern commentators retreat to a range of adjectives such as ‘flawed,’ ‘human,’ ‘contradictory,’ ‘paradoxical,’ ‘compartmentalized,’ while preserving for [Thomas] Jefferson what [one] historian...calls ‘a fundamental core of naïve…” quote by Henry Wiencek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/800/henry-wiencek-90790_character_deeply-reluctant-to-judge-a-founder-as-w_1771646.jpg)
![“[John] Adams's perception of Europe, and especially France, was clearly different than [Tomas] Jefferson's. For Jefferson, the luxury and sophistication of Europe only made American simplicity and virtue appear dearer. For Adams, by contrast, Europe represented what America was fast becoming - a…” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8c0/gordon-s-wood-13199_america_john-adams-s-perception-of-europe-and-es_579328.jpg)
