Against American exceptionalism: Gordon S. Wood on John Adams

GORDON WOOD, LIBRARY OF AMERICA

 it’s also well worth diving into a new interview with the eminent historian Gordon S. Wood, regarding the original critic of the exceptionalism doctrine, John Adams. Wood recounts that, in facing off against Thomas Jefferson, who believed that America was a chosen nation with a mission to spread democracy, 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.” It is to be doubted, as the election approaches, that we’ll be hearing words like these from any of the candidates.