James Wilson (September14, 1742 - August 21, 1798). Wilson was born in Scotland, where he considered careers in the ministry amd as a merchant, but his family gave him the opportunity to come to America, and in 1765, he settled in Philadelphia. He received a degree from the College of Philadelphia and then read for the law with John Dickinson. A thriving law practice (in Reading and then Carlisle), a fortuitious marriage, and the help of other prosperous Scots, made Wilson a prominent figure in eastern Pennsylvania by the early 1770s.

Wilson was active in resistance to British imperial policy; he was elected to his county committee of correspondence and then to the Pennsylvania provincial assembly; in 1774 he published "Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament"-which argued for a theory of "popular sovereignty" (power derived from the people, and thus the English Parliament had no authority over the American colonists) that Wilson would later articulate in defense of the Constitution. While he was not an enthusiastic supporter of independence, he did sign the Declaration.

While Wilson believed that government must rest of the will of the people (rather than divine rule or the prerogative power of the monarch), he was not a "democrat". Pennsylvania's radical 1776 constitution (that did away with the governor, instituted a unicameral legislature, and limited terms to one year) worried Wilson, and he was among those ("Republicans") that worked to replace the state constitution with a more "balanced" form of government (more checks and balances among co-equal branches)-a goal the Pennsylvania Republicans finally accomplished in 1790.

During the war Wilson was not popular with the militia or Philadelphia's artisans and working men. As a lawyer, he represented Tories (Loyalists) in court cases, and he was associated with Robert Morris efforts to regulate prices in the town (which poorer Philadelphians felt hurt them). He also became a land speculator and prospered greatly from his endeavors, and one of the founders of the Bank of Philadelphia (another controversial political project) and a supporter of the Bank of North America.

After the war, conservatives gained the upper hand in Pennsylvania politics, and they sent Wilson first to the Continental Congress and then (along with Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris, his political allies) to the Philadelphia Convention. There he advocated a strong national government, based on the will of the people, and next to James Madison, was probably the most important drafter of the new Constitution. While he spoke in democratic terms, he did not fully support direct election by the people, and he defended measures that would check the power of legislative majorities. He waned the president to have an absolute veto, and he spoke against adding a bill of rights.

Later, Wilson would serve on the new Supreme Court (as an associate justice) and be imprisoned for debt (as was Robert Morris, as a result of land speculation).

Sources: Robert G. McCloskey, ed., The Works of James Wilson, 2 vols. (1967).