This Founding Father Died in Disgrace. But He Can’t Be Forgotten.
Excluded from America's origin story, James Wilson may have been the most influential, prescient, and democratic drafter of the Constitution.
TL;DR
- James Wilson, a Supreme Court justice and signer of the Constitution, died in debt and disgrace, leading to his historical obscurity.
- Wilson was a principal drafter of the Constitution, advocating for democratic principles like direct popular elections and proportional representation.
- He is credited with composing the seminal phrase "We the People" for the Constitution's preamble.
- Wilson's ideas on popular sovereignty and representation were controversial at the time but have largely been adopted over time.
- Despite his contributions, personal financial ruin and a lack of legacy promotion kept him out of mainstream historical accounts.
- Wilson also proposed a system for electing the president that was more democratic than other contemporary proposals.
- He was personally opposed to slavery but controversially proposed counting enslaved people as three-fifths for representation and taxation.
- Later figures like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison echoed Wilson's core democratic principles in their own writings and proposals.