In short, the founding fathers helped unleash democratic and egalitarian forces that would put an end to "many of their enlightened hopes and their kind of elitist leadership." They "succeeded in preventing any duplication of themselves."
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This is a variation, of course, on the central argument laid out in Mr. Wood's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1992 book, "The Radicalism of the American Revolution": namely, that the Revolution helped smother the patronage, paternalism and hierarchical relationships of the 18th century and usher in a new, democratic, capitalistic world; that it undermined the whole idea of aristocracy and elitist virtue and helped bring about a new society defined by the common man.
