James Wilson
A Pennsylvania lawyer at the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention, James Wilson argued in 1787-1788 for popular sovereignty and later helped define federal law on the Supreme Court.
Born September 14, 1742 / Died August 21, 1798
On September 14, 1742, at Carskerdo near Cupar in Fife, Scotland, James Wilson was born into a farming family and educated at the Universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. After emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1765, he studied law with John Dickinson and built a successful practice in Reading and Philadelphia. Resistance to imperial taxation turned him from lawyer to pamphleteer and legislator.
Wilson wrote Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament in 1774, joined the Continental Congress, and signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. At Philadelphia in 1787 he argued for popular sovereignty, an energetic national government, and direct legitimacy flowing from the people rather than the states. George Washington appointed him to the first Supreme Court in 1789, where cases such as Chisholm v. Georgia reflected his broad reading of national authority.
Wilson's defense of popular sovereignty helped make 'We the People' more than a phrase in the Preamble. His early Supreme Court opinions and Convention speeches also shaped the constitutional conversations that later surfaced in McCulloch v. Maryland and other nationalist decisions.
Key Contributions
- Wilson was elected twice to the Continental Congress, and was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
- In 1787 he was a major participant in drafting the U.S. Constitution, and became one of only six people to sign both documents.
- A leading legal theorist, he was one of the first four Associate Justices appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington.
Related Events
Constitutional Convention convenes
From May to September 1787, delegates in Philadelphia abandoned revision of the Articles of Confederation and drafted a new Constitution under George Washington's presidency.
United States Constitution signed
On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution in Philadelphia and sent the proposed frame of government to the states for ratification.
Declaration of Independence adopted
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and ordered the document printed as the public case for separation.
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