Dr. Samuel B. Hoff is a George Washington Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Delaware State University. He teaches and publishes about the Supreme Court and constitutional issues.
Last year at this time, two books highlighting the life and contributions of American founder John Hancock were released, and this year, another founding icon is the topic of a new book by Jesse Wegman: James Wilson. This piece concentrates on Wilson’s role in the 1787 Constitutional Convention, for which he deserves a co-Most Valuable Delegate Award at the least.
Already highly educated, James Wilson emigrated from Scotland to America in the middle of the Stamp Act controversy. He eventually opened up a law practice in Pennsylvania. At the Continental Congress in 1776, he helped persuade fellow Pennsylvania delegates to approve the Declaration of Independence and signed that document with 55 others. However, he was deeply dismayed by the direction Pennsylvania took at its ratifying convention. Similarly, he lamented the weaknesses of the new national government under the Articles of Confederation. Both upheld a system of legislative supremacy. For that reason, Wilson backed the 1786 meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, that called for a convention to strengthen the powers of the national government.
Seldom did the man and the moment come together like James Wilson did at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. First, Wilson was widely recognized as the nation’s best lawyer at the time. Moreover, according to the Center for the Study of the American Constitution, Wilson was among the most frequent speakers at the event. However, it was the quality of his ideas, most of which were enacted in the final Constitution, that stood out in the Philadelphia summer.
Above all, Wilson advocated for a strong national government in which the authority of the legislature was shared with others. To that end, he favored a single national leader separately selected, a feature that was found in the approved Constitution. He championed the creation of a Supreme Court. While understanding the need for intergovernmental relations, he lobbied in no uncertain terms for federal supremacy, as the Constitution’s Article 6 guarantees. Using the momentum from the convention, Wilson later assisted in ratifying the Constitution in Pennsylvania and subsequently shepherded the formulation of a new state constitution there.
Without question, Wilson was among the most ardent supporters of popular sovereignty, believing that power resides in the people rather than in state governments. As it pertains to elections, Wilson’s views triumphed in debate as to how to choose the House of Representatives. Wilson’s push for popular power was the impetus behind the opening of the Constitution’s Preamble. In other areas, such as how to select the president and Senate, Wilson’s popular election framework was rejected.
On the subject of slavery, James Wilson is credited with helping steer the so-called Three-Fifths Compromise, whereby states counted a slave as 60% of a person for purposes of taxation or representation. Though some saw Wilson’s ideas here as contradicting his popular-sovereignty emphasis, it should be noted that Wilson trusted the promise made to stop slavery importation by a certain date, a stance later acknowledged by abolitionists.
To ensure that his preferences were implemented, James Wilson was one of five delegates appointed to the convention’s Committee of Detail, which drafted the working text of the Constitution. On Sept. 17, 1787, he signed the final version of the Constitution with 38 others, becoming just one of six men in American history to affix his name on both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Just two years later, Wilson was appointed by President George Washington as one of the first associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served until his death. Many scholars recognize that Wilson was the first jurist to claim that the Supreme Court possessed an inherent power of judicial review.
The Wegman book certainly includes James Wilson’s achievements but likewise reveals that his land speculation and spending habits mired him in debt, perpetuating an ugly demise. Further, Wegman asserts that Wilson was overshadowed at the Constitutional Convention by James Madison — whose own record of the event did not see light for another half-century — and by another famous Pennsylvanian, Benjamin Franklin. Finally, Wegman contends that, unlike other framers, Wilson left few papers or archives to publish.
It is good to see more attention to American founders, such as James Wilson, after two generations of scholarly neglect. But to wonks, geeks, fans and experts alike on the 1787 Constitutional Convention and what it wrought, Wilson needs no reintroduction or defense.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
