James Wilson-Signer of the Constitution

Considered to be the first Constitutional Lawyer, James Wilson was born September 14, 1742 in Carskerdo, Scotland and he died August 21, 1798 in Edenton, North Carolina.  Wilson was a Scottish Immigrant who came to America in 1765.

James Wilson studied law under John Dickinson, a fellow signer of the Constitution, and he started a law practice in Reading, Pennsylvania.  He was the Chairman of the Carlisle Committee of Correspondence, a pro-patriot organization, in 1774.  Wilson wrote Considerations on the Nature and the Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament. This work of his gained him a reputation as a great patriot leader.  He served in Continental Congress between 1774 and 1777.  James Wilson also signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.  He was appointed Colonel in the Cumberland County Associators, but he never saw military action.  After a controversy in which he voted against having a unicameral legislature, which he believed would cause mob rule, he moved to Maryland and lived there from 1777-1778.  When he returned to Pennsylvania in 1779, he and a few other state legislatures were attacked by a mob at his home.  In this attack casualties occurred on both sides and Wilson's home was aptly named "Fort Wilson".  Wilson became the Advocate General in America for France and he served from 1779-1783. As General, he advised France on American Law among other things dealing with French/American relations.  At the same time, he served as the Director of the Bank of North America, which had recently been created by Robert Morris.  Wilson was again elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1782 as well as between 1785 and 1787.

James Wilson, as a delegate from Pennsylvania, was a valuable asset to the Constitutional Convention.  William Pierce wrote:

"Mr. Wilson ranks among the foremost in legal and political knowledge.  He has joined to a fine genius all that can set him off and show him to advantage.  He is well acquainted with man, and understands all the passions that influence him...No man is more clear, copious, and comprehensive than Mr. Wilson."

Wilson, a very accomplished lawyer, argued for representation based on a free population.  He also worked with James Madison in promoting the ideal of Popular Sovereignty.  Wilson opposed those delegates at the convention who sought for special privileges given to the rich and well born.  He considered the idea of election by the people as "not only the cornerstone, but the foundation of the fabric".  In speaking of his fellow delegates and himself he wrote:

"We kept steadily in our View that which appears to us the greatest Interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union . . . . And thus the Constitution which we now present is the result of a Spirit of Amity, and of that mutual Deference and Concession which the Peculiarity of our political Situation rendered indispensible."

James Wilson was indeed a great founder and through his skills as a legislator and lawyer he was a major part in the forming of the Greatest Law of Our Country, The Constitution.