Thomas Jefferson: Buildmaster or Benevolent Dictator?

While running along the back nine at Willows Run Golf Course this morning--merrily dodging Canadian Geese droppings--I stepped into a mudhole that momentarily consumed my foot and ankle. At that very moment I thought,

Was the United States Constitution America's first, great open source project?

Imagine what buildmaster Jefferson could have achieved with integrated version control and work item tracking and a powerful diff-merge engine, like Visual Studio Team Foundation Server.