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Gordon Wood

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description Gordon Wood Overview

Gordon S. Wood is an American historian of the Revolutionary era and the early United States. His scholarship explores republican political thought, constitutional change, social hierarchy, and the transformation of British colonial society into an independent nation. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 won the Bancroft Prize, and The Radicalism of the American Revolution won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1993.

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What is Gordon Wood's Creation of the American Republic about?

The Creation of the American Republic, published in 1969, examines the political ideas and institutions that developed between 1776 and 1787. Wood argues that the Revolution transformed how Americans understood representation, authority, virtue, and republican government.

Which Gordon Wood book won the Pulitzer Prize?

Wood won the Pulitzer Prize for History for The Radicalism of the American Revolution in 1993. The book argues that the Revolution changed American society by weakening inherited hierarchy and encouraging a more individualistic market culture.

Why does Gordon Wood focus on ideology in the American Revolution?

Wood treats political language as a force that shaped institutions and behavior, not merely as decoration around economic events. Terms such as virtue, corruption, representation, and sovereignty reveal what revolutionaries thought they were trying to build.

How does Gordon Wood describe the change from monarchy to republic?

He emphasizes that Americans had to replace habits of personal loyalty and inherited rank with ideas of civic virtue and elected representation. The transition affected constitutions, political parties, and expectations about public service.

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