Wilson's activities as a lawyer also continued to spark political resentment. Wilson's adversaries regarded him as too conservative and hostile to the people-a view that Wilson's opposition to the radical Pennsylvania constitution of 1776 fueled. Wilson pursued a moderate course, endorsing independence only when the General Assembly repealed its instructions against the measure.
In 1775, Pennsylvania's General Assembly elected Wilson one of the colony's delegates to the Second Continental Congress. His notable 1774 pamphlet "Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament" advocated the American position in the constitutional controversy with Great Britain. Originally planning to enter the clergy or the teaching profession, he changed his focus to the law after studying under the guidance of John Dickinson, Wilson soon became a leading member of the Pennsylvania bar and threw himself into Pennsylvania's complex, turbulent politics. Andrew's University in Edinburgh and other Scottish schools, and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1765. Further, it fits badly with Wilson's many, extensive contributions to the creation of the American republic and the launching of American law.īorn poor in Scotland in 1742 (we have no record of his birthdate), Wilson pursued his education at St. Such obscurity would have pained Wilson deeply-for among Americans of his generation he was perhaps most ambitious for undying fame. The two-hundredth anniversary of the death of James Wilson, on 21 August 1798, will pass with little notice. Bernstein (New York Law School and Brooklyn College/CUNY)
The Political and Legal Philosophy of James Wilson, 1742-1798.Ĭolumbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997.
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