Wilson, James, 1742-1798

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>09/26/1789 Supreme Court - Associate Justice Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>01/07/1789 PA Presidential Elector Won 9.31% (-0.05%)</li>
<li>11/12/1787 Constitutional Convention Delegates Won 17.71% (-0.12%)</li>
<li>12/31/1786 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1785 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1784 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1782 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1776 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1775 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1774 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

<p>James Wilson (September 14, 1742 – August 21, 1798) was an American statesman, politician, legal scholar, and Founding Father who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1789 to 1798. He was elected twice to the Continental Congress, was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence, and was a major force in drafting the United States Constitution. A leading legal theorist, he was one of the six original justices appointed by George Washington to the Supreme Court of the United States. In his capacity as first Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, he taught the first course on the new Constitution to President Washington and his cabinet in 1789 and 1790.</p>

<p>Born near Leven, Fife, Scotland, Wilson immigrated to Philadelphia in 1766 and became a teacher at the College of Philadelphia. After studying law under John Dickinson, he was admitted to the bar and set up a legal practice in Reading, Pennsylvania. He wrote a well-received pamphlet arguing that Parliament's taxation of the Thirteen Colonies was illegitimate due to the colonies' lack of representation in Parliament. He was elected to the Continental Congress and served as president of the Illinois-Wabash Company, a land speculation venture.</p>

<p>Wilson was a delegate to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, where he served on the Committee of Detail, which produced the first draft of the United States Constitution. He was the principal architect of the executive branch and an outspoken supporter of greater popular control of governance, a strong national government, and legislative representation proportional to population. Along with Roger Sherman and Charles Pinckney, he proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of representation in the United States House of Representatives. While preferring the direct election of the president through a national popular vote, he proposed the use of an electoral college, which formed the basis of the Electoral College ultimately adopted by the Convention. After the convention, he campaigned for the ratification of the Constitution, with his "speech in the statehouse yard" reprinted in newspapers throughout the country, and opposed the Bill of Rights. Wilson also played a major role in drafting the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution.</p>

<p>In 1789, Wilson became one of the first Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. He also became a professor of law at the College of Philadelphia (which later became the University of Pennsylvania). Wilson suffered financial ruin from the Panic of 1796–1797 and was briefly imprisoned in a debtors' prison on two occasions. He suffered a stroke and died in August 1798, becoming the first U.S. Supreme Court justice to die.</p>

<p>James Wilson was born in Scotland in 1742. He attended a surprising number of Universities there, and never attained a degree. He emigrated to America in 1766, carrying a number of valuable letters of Introduction with him. Through these connections he began tutoring and then teaching at the Philadelphia College. He petitioned there for a degree and was awarded an honorary Master of Arts several months later.</p>

<p>The most popular career field in those days was the law. Wilson managed to secure studies at the office of John Dickinson a short time later. After two years of study he attained the bar in Philadelphia, and the following year (1767) set up his own practice in Reading. His office was very successful and he managed to earn a small fortune in a few short years. At that point he had bought a small farm near Carlisle, was handling cases in eight local Counties, and lecturing on English Literature at the College of Philadelphia. It was also during this period that he began a life-long fascination with land speculation.</p>

<p>In 1774 Wilson attended a provincial meeting, as a representative of Carlisle, and was elected a member of the local Committee of Correspondence. He wrote a pamphlet titled "Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament." In it, he argued that the Parliament had no authority to pass laws for the colonies. It was published, and later found its way to the Continental Congress, where it was widely read and commented on. In 1775 he was elected to the Continental Congress, where he assumed a position with the most radical members-a demand for separation from Britain. James Wilson's powers of oration, the passion of his delivery and the logic he employed in debate, were commented on favorably by many members of the Congress. He was, however, in a bind. Pennsylvania was divided on the issue of separation, and Wilson refused to vote against the will of his constituents. Many members felt that it was hypocritical to have argued so forcefully and so long for Independence, only to vote against it when the occasion came. Wilson, with the support of three other members who were sympathetic to his position, managed a delay of three weeks, so that he could consult with people back home. When the vote came, he was able to affirm Pennsylvania's wish for Independence.</p>