James Wilson, the Forgotten Father- America's Godly Heritage Video 1

James Wilson: Forgotten Founder and Key Framer of the Constitution

• James Wilson was a key framer of the US Constitution, contributing to the Preamble, the structure of the judiciary, and notable compromises at the Constitutional Convention.

Early Life and Education

• Wilson was born in Scotland and came to the American colonies in 1765, where he apprenticed under John Dickinson, a leading colonial lawyer.

Political Career

• Wilson published a pamphlet in 1774 denying Parliament's authority to legislate on internal colonial matters, establishing him as a leading colonial thinker.
• He was part of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Second Continental Congress in May 1775 and convinced the delegation to vote in favor of independence.
• Wilson served as Philadelphia financier Robert Morris's principal legal adviser and took on key cases, including the 1782 Wyoming Valley litigation.

Constitutional Convention

• At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Wilson was viewed as one of the legal leaders in the country, speaking frequently and influencing the structure of the judiciary and the presidency.
• He contended for drawing the most numerous branch of the legislature directly from the people, advocating for a broad basis for the federal government.

Committee of Detail

• Wilson was part of the Committee of Detail, which resolved issues related to the presidency, and was instrumental in giving the president the sole power of nomination to the Supreme Court.

Three-Fifths Compromise

• Wilson initially questioned the logic of the Three-Fifths Compromise but accepted it as necessary for creating a stronger national union.

Post-Constitutional Convention

• Wilson was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1789 and became the first law professor in the United States in 1792.
• He began his "Lectures on Law" at the College of Pennsylvania, which helped establish the philosophy behind the US and Pennsylvania Constitutions.

Decline and Legacy

• Wilson's personal finances declined due to speculative investment, leading to imprisonment and eventually, poverty.
• Despite his significant contributions to the Constitution, Wilson's role was largely forgotten until the 20th century, when scholars revisited his significance.

James Wilson

• Born on September 14, 1742
• Died on August 21, 1798
• One of the Founding Fathers of the United States
• Signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
• Represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress
• Elected to the Continental Congress twice
• Played a major role in drafting the United States Constitution
• Appointed by George Washington as one of the six original justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
• Leading legal theorist

James Wilson

• Born on September 14, 1742
• Died on August 21, 1798
• One of the Founding Fathers of the United States
• Signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
• Represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress
• Elected to the Continental Congress twice
• Played a major role in drafting the United States Constitution
• Appointed by George Washington as one of the six original justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
• Leading legal theorist

James Wilson

• Born on September 14, 1742
• Died on August 21, 1798
• One of the Founding Fathers of the United States
• Signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
• Represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress
• Elected to the Continental Congress twice
• Played a major role in drafting the United States Constitution
• Appointed by George Washington as one of the six original justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
• Leading legal theorist

James Wilson and the Principles of the American Constitution

• James Wilson: signer of the Declaration of Independence, important figure at the Constitutional Convention, and one of the first justices of the US Supreme Court (1789-1798)
• Argued that philosophical skepticism is the enemy of self-government

Wilson's View on Philosophy and Government

• Claimed that philosophers John Locke and David Hume advanced theories antithetical to democratic government
• Believed that republican and democratic government requires a virtuous citizenry
• Thought that the ordinary person has the capacity to be virtuous and just due to an innate capacity to know the "natural law"

Principle of Popular Sovereignty

• Argued that the actions of King and Parliament in England had abrogated the sovereignty that properly belonged to the colonists
• Believed that governments come and go at the will of the people, who entrust them with the power to legislate and execute the law
• Held that the citizen's duty is to obey rightly instituted law insofar as that law is just and right, since only God is owed complete and absolute obedience

Lectures on Law

• Gave a series of lectures on the principles of the American Constitution (1790-1792), later published as the Lectures on Law
• Articulated why the American democratic experiment is just, discussing natural law, domestic law, international law, common law, criminal law, and theories of evidence
• Intended to replace Blackstone's Commentaries in American law schools

Influence of Richard Hooker

• Wilson's metaphysical account of law was influenced by Richard Hooker's Laws of the Ecclesiastical Polity
• Believed that God is the source of justice, and that the order and proportion that govern the universe reflect that law
• Argued that people make laws for themselves guided by reason and conscience, and that conscience lies the first principles of natural law

The Role of Education and Culture

• Thought that culture and education develop and shape the exercise of the first principles of natural law
• Believed that evil customs, corrupt habits, and bad ideas obscure the natural moral sense and limit the development of virtue and reason
• Argued that society has a powerful influence on our dispositions, desires, passions, and enjoyments

Human Nature and Justice

• Believed that a moral sense exists in each soul, and that to seek justice is natural to mankind
• Concluded that even metaphysical skeptics like Lucretius and Hobbes cannot eradicate the sentiments that seek to know moral forms from their models of human nature
• Argued that people have the natural capacity to determine their own good and the good of others in a reasonable way