American character Quote by Gordon S. Wood
![“By the time [John Adams] came to write his Defence of the Constitutions of the United States in 1787 he had as dark a view of the American character as that of any critic in our history.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d41/gordon-s-wood-13199_american-character_by-the-time-john-adams-came-to-write-his_314115.jpg)
“By the time [John Adams] came to write his Defence of the Constitutions of the United States in 1787 he had as dark a view of the American character as that of any critic in our history.”
“By the time [John Adams] came to write his Defence of the Constitutions of the United States in 1787 he had as dark a view of the American character as that of any critic in our history.”
![“[John] Adams said his objective in writing his Defence of the Constitutions of the United States and his Davila essays was to counter what he thought was the unfair criticism of the American state constitutions made by the French philosophers, especially [Anne Robert Jacques] Turgot.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0f7/gordon-s-wood-13199_constitution_john-adams-said-his-objective-in-writing_1758037.jpg)
![“I think [John Adams's] influence on the federal Constitution was indirect. Many including James Madison mocked the first volume of Adams's Defence of the Constitutions of the United States in 1787. But his Massachusetts constitution was a model for those who thought about stable popular…” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d6b/gordon-s-wood-13199_constitution_i-think-john-adams-s-influence-on-the-fe_2752626.jpg)
![“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.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e64/gordon-s-wood-13199_constitution_perhaps-more-significant-than-his-experi_2349371.jpg)
![“[John] Adams was arguing that a separate social order existed that needed to be embodied in senates and his fellow Americans could not accept this and accused him rightly of being obsessed with the English constitution.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/92a/gordon-s-wood-13199_accepting_john-adams-was-arguing-that-a-separate-s_2932366.jpg)
![“It was [John's Adams] Massachusetts constitution if anything that influenced people.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6fe/gordon-s-wood-13199_constitution_it-was-john-s-adams-massachusetts-consti_1867270.jpg)
![“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 their own."” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/678/gordon-s-wood-13199_benefits_americans-john-adams-wrote-in-1780-belie_1953074.jpg)
![“I think [John's Adams] descriptions of the personalities of [Benjamin] Franklin and [Tomas] Jefferson and others were pretty accurate. It is only when he felt he was wronged by them that he lets loose his anger and resentment.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/394/gordon-s-wood-13199_accurate_i-think-john-s-adams-descriptions-of-the_2774163.jpg)
![“Deeply versed in history, [John Adams] said over and over that America had no special providence, no special role in history, that Americans were no different from other peoples, that the United States was just as susceptible to viciousness and corruption as any other nation. In this regard, at…” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f0d/gordon-s-wood-13199_america_deeply-versed-in-history-john-adams-said_940303.jpg)
![“[The Massachusetts constitution] resembles the federal Constitution of 1787 more closely than any of the other revolutionary state constitutions. It was also drawn up by a special convention, and it provided for popular ratification - practices that were followed by the drafters of the federal…” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ebc/gordon-s-wood-13199_constitution_the-massachusetts-constitution-resembles_34263.jpg)
![“[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."” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c71/gordon-s-wood-13199_constitutionalism_john-adams-identified-himself-with-the-p_226327.jpg)
![“[John] Adams was the best and most colorful stylist among the Founders. Although [Tomas] Jefferson is widely regarded as the smoothest writer, Adams is by far the most engaging and imaginative.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/782/gordon-s-wood-13199_colorful_john-adams-was-the-best-and-most-colorfu_244163.jpg)
![“Creating senates, the French critics said, implied that there was another social order besides the people represented in the houses of representatives. [John] Adams actually agreed with that implication and argued that the aristocracy and the people had to have separate houses; this was the only…” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9a7/gordon-s-wood-13199_aristocracy_creating-senates-the-french-critics-said_349374.jpg)
![“By 1782 [John Adams] had come to feel for [Benjamin] Franklin "no other sentiments than Contempt or Abhorrence."” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/91d/gordon-s-wood-13199_abhorrence_by-1782-john-adams-had-come-to-feel-for_357591.jpg)
![“I think [John Adams] developed a much deeper suspicion of France and the other European powers than he had earlier. He lost much if not all of the utopian thinking about international politics and diplomacy expressed in his Model Treaty of 1776 and became much more cynical about the world.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ccc/gordon-s-wood-13199_cynical_i-think-john-adams-developed-a-much-deep_372770.jpg)
![“[John] Adams never had an optimistic view of human nature, and his experience in the Congress and abroad only deepened his suspicion that his fellow Americans might not have the character to sustain a republican government.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/4dc/gordon-s-wood-13199_character_john-adams-never-had-an-optimistic-view_386009.jpg)
![“A mutual friend, Benjamin Rush, brought [Tomas Jefferson and John Adams] together in 1812, and they went on to exchange letters for the rest of their lives. But in their correspondence they tended to avoid the most controversial issues, such as slavery.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/be3/gordon-s-wood-13199_controversial_a-mutual-friend-benjamin-rush-brought-to_487463.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)
![“I think the level of casualties is secondary... [A]ll the great scholars who have studied American character have come to the conclusion that we are a warlike people and that we love war... What we hate is not casualties but losing.” quote by Michael A. Ledeen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/02f/michael-a-ledeen-52574_american-character_i-think-the-level-of-casualties-is-secon_841195.jpg)
![“I've never been front and centre as an iconic American character [like in Doctor Strange]. Day to day, you know you're painting on a very big canvas.” quote by Benedict Cumberbatch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/49a/benedict-cumberbatch-1156_american-character_i-ve-never-been-front-and-centre-as-an-i_1132407.jpg)
![“Huck [Finn] and Tom [Sawyer] represent two viable models of the American Character. They exist side by side in every American and every American action. America is, and always has been, undecided about whether it will be the United States of Tom or the United States of Huck. The United States of…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/04d/george-saunders-317_america_huck-finn-and-tom-sawyer-represent-two-v_1377012.jpg)
