James Wilson: PA Signer of the Declaration with a Tragic Ending

James Wilson was born on September 14, 1742, in the shire of Fife, in the Scottish Lowlands, to William and Aleson (Lansdale) Wilson. Wilson would be the only member of his family to leave Scotland. His father, William, owned a farm in Scotland and was not wealthy, but was comfortable. William would lose much of his money through speculation, a trait his son would inherit.

Wilson attended local grammar schools before attending St. Andres, then Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities. He was able to be enrolled in the different schools because he had earned scholarships to them, and was about 14 years old when he was first sent off to St. Andrews, with half a load of oaten bread and a pint of beer. Dr. Blair and Dr. Watts, noted instructors of their day, were among the teachers he encountered as he originally studied to prepare to enter the church. In 1762, Wilson graduated from St. Andrews University. Unfortunately, Wilson’s father, William, passed away that same year, and he had to cease further studies to support his family. Before his father’s death and after he graduated from St. Andrews, Wilson attended divinity school. He began to tutor students until he was able to secure funds to leave Scotland. He also stayed until his brothers were old enough to support themselves and their mother.[1] 

In 1765, Wilson left Scotland for America, first arriving in New York and then traveling on to Philadelphia. He arrives during the Stamp Act controversy and secures a position as a tutor at Philadelphia College. He specifically tutors students in Latin and was hailed as one of the best tutors at the school. He worked in this position for a few months before taking up law and apprenticing at John Dickinson’s firm for two years. During his studies, he would fill notebooks with “doctrines of England and ecclesiastical law, legal forms and maxims from Cicero.”[2]

By 1767, he had been admitted to the bar and had begun his own practice in Reading, Pennsylvania, then moved to Carlisle before returning to Philadelphia in 1770. He was the leading lawyer in this area, and it was where he would meet his first wife, Rachel Bird. Most of his cases after being admitted to the bar involved land disputes, and he absorbed all he learned from them. It leads to his involvement in land speculation, which would become a lifelong obsession and eventually lead to his downfall. (He was what we now call a flipper.)

Wilson began studying the legal relationship between the colonies and Parliament in 1768 in response to events during the Stamp Act Controversy. Out of this study comes a piece called Considerations on the Nature and Effect of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament, which would not be published until 1774, because Dr. Francis Alison said it could hurt his new law practice. Dr. Allison was Vice-Provost of the College of Philadelphia.[3] The piece concludes that the colonists were equal to the English subjects and entitled to the same rights and privileges as Englishmen. He was surprised to find that the Acts of Parliament would not have a binding effect on the colonies. The piece was considered more radical than John Adams’ Novanglus or Jefferson’s Summary View. This view of the acts of Parliament, which were not binding on the colonies, would lead him to say that the closing of the Boston Port was unconstitutional because the colonists did not have a say in Parliament. During this time period, no act of Parliament was considered unconstitutional, and his reason was ahead of its time and a forerunner to his idea of judicial review. He would also co-author a series of articles under the pseudonym “The Visitant” with William White, the Bishop of Christ Church.

On November 5, 1771, Wilson married Rachel Bird, who was the daughter of William Bird. Her brother marries Mary Ross, the sister of George Ross, a fellow signer of the Declaration. On her maternal side, Rachel was a descendant of Marquis Jean Paul Frederick de Hulingues, a Huguenot nobleman. Wilson and Rachel would have six children between 1772 and 1785. Their names in order of birth were Mary, William, Bird, James Bird, Emily Bird, and Charles Bird.

By 1774, the patriotic movement was in full swing, and Wilson was right in the middle of it as a member of the Carlisle Committee of Correspondence. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Convention and was put up for election to the first Continental Congress in 1774, along with John Dickinson. He was not elected to the First Continental Congress but would be elected to the Second Continental Congress in 1775. He was seated on May 10, 1775, and would stay in Congress until 1777

In June of 1776, Richard Henry Lee’s resolution was introduced. Still, Wilson, along with Rutledge, Livingston, and Dickinson, got a three-week delay on the vote to let delegates speak with their respective colony’s governing councils. Wilson votes for independence on July 2 and signs the Declaration on August 2, 1776. Some people thought he was not supportive of independence, but this charge was incorrect. Like some of the other signers, he supported independence but did not feel it was the right time to pursue it. He was also alleged to have been part of the Conway Cabal, but there was no evidence to support this claim. The committees he served on included the Articles of Confederation, several treaty committees, the hearing of admiralty appeals, and the oversight of requisitions. He would be removed in 1777 while he was working on the Pennsylvania state constitution and had been opposed to a unicameral house. He believed there should be a separation of powers, but the new state constitution did not provide for it.

After leaving Congress, he returned to practicing law in Annapolis before returning to Philadelphia. He would study various forms of government in his free time, while also having a large and successful law practice. In 1778, he was appointed a counselor and agent for Pennsylvania in a land dispute between the state and Connecticut. The case would be resolved by December 1782, with Pennsylvania winning. But 1778 would also include an attack on his home by Americans and not the British. There are a variety of reasons for this attack, including his becoming a corporate-type attorney and his switching from Whig to Conservative in his politics. He also changed religions, becoming an Episcopalian, and defending a Tory merchant in Connecticut. By 1779, Americans hated him so much that they arrived at his house on 3rd and Walnut in Philadelphia and attacked him. Wilson and his cronies have to barricade themselves in his home until they can be rescued. Several people would be injured in this skirmish, but thankfully, no one was killed. Wilson decided it was better to leave Philadelphia than stay. The following spring in 1780, the Pennsylvania legislature pardoned all the individuals involved in the incident known as Fort Wilson. Unfortunately, Wilson learns nothing from this incident and continues in his newfound ways.

He received an appointment in 1779 as an Advocate General for the French government in the US, and by 1783, he was paid 10,000 livres by the King. Then, in 1780, he became the legal advisor to Robert Morris, and together they worked with other prominent men to form the Bank of North America. The bank was chartered by Congress and operated until 1785. He would publish Considerations on the Power to Incorporate the Bank of North America, an attempt to secure the Bank’s recharter in 1783, but it was unsuccessful. In the meantime, he was re-elected to Congress in 1782 and took his seat in January of 1783. He would serve until 1787 and worked closely with Alexander Hamilton to establish a national bank, but under the Articles of Confederation, this was a losing battle.

Appointed in 1787 as a delegate from Pennsylvania to the Constitutional Convention, Wilson was an active participant. According to Madison’s notes, he was a constant advocate for the people’s right to vote for their representatives and for the House of Representatives as the cornerstone of the government. He also argued for direct election of Senators. He argued strongly against the scheme of Sherman and Gerry, who did not want power invested in the people. He always believed in the power of the people, and the ability of the people to be free and sovereign, and to self-govern themselves.[4] Another belief was that a broad base, with the people’s support, was the only way to have a strong government.

He advocated for a single executive and believed in the principle of judicial review for the Supreme Court. For the latter, he argued that it did not make it more powerful than the other branches, but would ensure the Constitution remained the supreme law of the land. He was a member of the Committee of Detail and wrote the first form of the Constitution, but Gouverneur Morris would put it into its final form. After the committee reviewed Morris’s final form, Wilson suggested an alteration for the preamble, which was agreed to, but, contrary to some historical pieces, Wilson did not write the preamble.

Only Madison had a greater influence than Wilson at the Constitutional Convention, and Wilson delivered 168 speeches during this time, the second most of any delegate. He fought for the direct election of Senators during the convention but failed. It would not be until 1913, with the passage of the 17^th Amendment, that he would ultimately win the fight. His fellow delegates’ opinions were positive, with Washington saying he was “as able, candid and honest a Member as any in the Convention” and Pierce noting “no man is more clear, copious and comprehensive…”[5]

His work on the Constitution was not finished, though, as he was elected a delegate to the Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention in 1788. He would give a remarkable speech, known as the State House Yard Speech, during the Convention, in which he defended the Constitution:

“I will confess, indeed, that I am not a blind admirer of this plan of government, and that there are some parts of it, if my wish had prevailed, would certainly have been altered. But, when I reflect how widely men differ in their opinions, and that every man, (and the observation applies likewise to every state,) has an equal pretension to assert his own, I am satisfied that anything nearer to perfection could not have been accomplished... Regarding it, then, in every point of view, with a candid and disinterested mind, I am bold to assert, that it is the best form of government which has ever been offered to the world.”[6]

Federalists used this speech nationwide to promote ratification; it was originally delivered on October 6, 1787. He then speaks to the people of Pennsylvania, directly on July 4, 1788, to explain the principles of the Constitution:

“Allow me to direct your attention, in a very particular manner, to a momentous part, which by this Constitution, every citizen will frequently be called to act. All those in place of power and trust will be elected either immediately by the people, or in such a manner that their appointment will depend ultimately on such immediate election. All the derivative movements of government must spring from the original movement of the people at large.”[7]

            He was the leader of the Federalist wing in Pennsylvania, which also made him a target of the Anti-Federalists. He would be a Federalist till the end of his days. Ironically, his belief in the people would be more Jeffersonian than Hamiltonian. He was an effective debater and would meticulously note, with numbers, every objection made by a speaker during the ratification convention and then would reference them later when he spoke.

            In 1788, he also served on the Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention and was employed by the College of Philadelphia, where he delivered a series of lectures on the Constitution. He had wanted to put together an American Legal anthology, much like William Blackstone’s commentaries on the law. President and Mrs. Washington attended his first lecture. He was part of the Scottish Enlightenment, and this was reflected in his work. He was in Scotland at the time it was changing and came to America during its own period of change, much like Reverend Witherspoon, and this played a significant role in his thinking. He was influenced by Hume and Reid, from whom he borrowed heavily. The lectures would encompass 800 pages, divided into 35 parts, and put together so that the common person could understand and think about the law. In Of the Natural Rights of Individuals, he wrote: “What was the primary and the principal object in the institution of government? Was it – I speak of the primary and principal object – was it to acquire new rights by a human establishment? Or was it, by a human establishment, to acquire a new security for the possession or the recovery of those rights, to the enjoyment or acquisition of which we were previously entitled by the immediate gift, or by the unerring law, of our all-wise and all-beneficent Creator?”[8]  In the Law of Nature, he draws heavily from Reid to the point of plagiarism.  He wrote, “The first principles of morals into which all moral argumentation may be resolved, are discovered in a manner more analogous to the perceptions of sense than to the conclusions of reasoning.”[9]  Like Reid, he was alluding to a sixth sense: the moral sense. We know what is right innately, and we use that rather than using a thoroughly reasoned argument. Wilson believed that laws made by the people, with whom all share equality, provided the greatest security. He also believed that natural laws were “God created absolutes standard against which individual and community acts must be measured.”  Good communicates this law to man through reason and conscience.[10] His lectures were filled with quotes from Shakespeare, Aristotle, and Alexander Pope, among others. Wilson, like Publius, saw greed and fear, but also looked at other passions that would guide men. He was smoother in his writing, taking the reader on a journey rather than engaging in hurried prose. Professor Eduardo Velásquezof Washington and Lee University believes his writings are the most systematic and substantial works informing the republic.

            President Washington appointed Wilson to the Supreme Court in 1791, and he would hold this position until his death. Throughout his judicial career, he was an advocate of popular sovereignty as the basis of government.[11]  He had advocated this during the Constitutional Convention, but ironically, he would be viewed as an aristocrat, even though he constantly advocated for the people. Wilson had campaigned for appointment as Chief Justice, but the position went to John Jay, who was inferior to Wilson in legal matters. However, he did not have the debt that Wilson did, and he was popular in New York. After the Justices were inaugurated, there was no business for them to attend, so they adjourned the court for several months.

            Finally, in 1793, an important case arose called Chisholm v. Georgia, in which Wilson wrote the opinion in favor of the citizen and against Georgia. This decision is the first use of the term “politically correct,” as he did not believe using the phrase “The United States” was politically correct. He wrote that it should be the “People of the United States.”  The opinion also said a state was “answerable in equity before the courts.”  In other words, if they were sued by an individual in a federal court, they must answer that suit. This opinion would be overturned by the 11^th Amendment, which prevented a state from being sued, but its officers and public officials can be sued, with the states covering those expenses.

            In 1793, he married Hannah Gray, daughter of Ellis Gray of Boston. They would have one child together. Henry, who was born in 1796, died in infancy. After Wilson’s death, she marries Dr. Thomas Bartlett and returns home to Boston. Hannah would pass away in 1807.

Wilson had been a successful lawyer for twenty-plus years, but he was heavily invested in land and warrants to buy real estate, which required maintenance payments that he failed to pay. He was thrown in prison twice until his son was able to secure the funds to pay for his release. This was done while he was a Supreme Court Justice. The panic of 1796 hit him hard, and while he had been one of the wealthiest men in the country before this, he was essentially bankrupt after the panic. He owed money to Pierce Butler, a fellow delegate from the Constitutional Convention, and, in 2011 dollars, the debt would amount to $197 million. He was released from a North Carolina debtor’s prison and went to the home of James Iredell in Edenton, North Carolina. It was here, his mind snaps, and he has a mental breakdown before dying in 1798, at 56 years of age. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Hayes Plantation. It was unmarked to prevent creditors from trying to claim the body, thereby forcing the family to pay off his debts to get his body returned. He would be reinterred in Christ Church Cemetery in Philadelphia next to the graves of Benjamin and Deborah Franklin.

Tidbits

Awarded an LLD Honorary Degree in 1790 from the College of Philadelphia, and became the first professor of law at the school.

Starts as a political moderate but evolves over time to become a conservative

Known for having a dignified expression, wore thick glasses and a wig.

He was six feet tall, with a round face, and was one of only 6 men to sign the Declaration and the Constitution.

He would start projects but would not always finish them, such as revising the PA code, but it overwhelmed him, and he never finished. He stopped giving his lectures and left notes for his son to finish them.

[1] Alcorn, J. Mark. “James Wilson: Founder and Constitutional Visionary” Conference Papers ‑ Western Political Science Association (2008 Annual Meeting): 3

[2] Tartakovsky, Joseph. “James Wilson remembered” New Criterion 29, no. 10 (June 2011): 19

[3] Alcorn, J. Mark. “James Wilson: Founder and Constitutional Visionary” Conference Papers ‑ Western Political Science Association (2008 Annual Meeting), 4

[4] Alcorn, J. Mark. “James Wilson: Founder and Constitutional Visionary” Conference Papers ‑ Western Political Science Association (2008 Annual Meeting): 9

[5] Tartakovsky, Joseph. “James Wilson remembered” New Criterion 29, no. 10 (June 2011): 20

[6] Goodrich, Charles A. Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence (New York: William Reed & Co., 1856) 307-308

[7] http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers‑by‑state/

[8] Wilson, James. “Of the Natural Rights of Individuals” Teaching American History. Accessed July 8, 2014.

[9] Tartakovsky, Joseph. “James Wilson remembered” New Criterion 29, no. 10 (June 2011): 21

[10] Alcorn, J. Mark. “James Wilson: Founder and Constitutional Visionary” Conference Papers ‑‑ Western Political Science Association (2008 Annual Meeting): 6

[11] Kellogg, D. O. “James Wilson and His Times” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine (1886‑1915) (02, 1899): 245