Gordon S. Wood

Some delegates at the Constitutional Convention wanted a strong executive, while others feared the American president might become a king.

We must see the world as actors of the past did: through a foggy windshield, not a rearview mirror, facing a future of radical uncertainty.

It depends on how you read the Declaration’s “self-evident” truths.

We cannot divorce the independence of the executive branch from its substance.

After peaceful attempts at alliance-building stalled, the Continental Army launched an ill-fated invasion of Quebec in June 1775.

Although the American tradition is broadly liberal, it is best understood as divided between two schools: classical and managerial liberalism.

Despite its failures and limitations, the American Revolution unleashed popular aspirations to throw off tyranny of all kinds.

The Florida governor’s long-ignored 2011 work, "Dreams From Our Founding Fathers," reveals a distinct vision of American history.

Historians should reject nationalism and help readers to avoid its dangers.

George Kennan made hierarchy seem seductive.

Woody Holton’s "Liberty is Sweet" charts not only the contest with Great Britain over “home rule” but also the internal struggle over who should rule at home. 

The past does not speak to us; we speak for the past.

The project's editor falsifies the history of American history-writing, openly embracing the privileging of “narrative” over “actual fact.”

Why has a relatively conventional history of the War of Independence drawn such an outraged response?

Athenian democracy in the political imagination.

Anti-federalist Luther Martin's agenda failed at the Constitutional Convention, but his criticisms of the Founders may still resonate with us today.

Reflections on the latest public debate between historians about the causes of the American Revolution.

We ascribe too much meaning to the early years of the republic.

On Akhil Reed Amar’s “The Words That Made Us,” a new history of America’s constitutional conversation.

How not to learn about the American past.