Professor Gordon S. Wood provides a keynote focusing on the American revolutionary tradition and why America wants to spread democracy around the world. This public lecture is a part of the Chicago Conference on the American Revolution. The Conference was offered by the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture at the University of Chicago and The Dr. William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture at the Newberry Library. The Conference offered scholars and the public a chance to reflect critically and historically on the political events and social movements that led to the creation of the United States. Gordon S. Wood is the Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus Brown University.

Recorded Thursday, February 10, 2011 at the Newberry Library.