Dave Davies

But Wegman argues that a careful review of records from the founding show that James Wilson was a highly influential figure in crafting the Constitution and a powerful voice for democracy, insisting that direct rule by the people should be the guiding principle of the new government.

Jesse Wegman served for 12 years on the editorial board of The New York Times.

He's currently a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice.

He was last on Fresh Air to talk about his earlier book, Let the People Pick the President, the case for abolishing the Electoral College.

Lately, he's written opinion pieces advocating term limits for Supreme Court justices.

Wegman's new book is The Lost Founder, James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution.

Jesse Wegman, welcome back to Fresh Air.

You know, you write about James Wilson and how he was a significant lawyer in the colonies in the 1760s when tensions between the colonies in Great Britain were growing.

And he wrote this essay, which was a groundbreaking legal analysis, which concluded that the British Parliament had no legitimate authority over American colonies because all lawful government existed.

is founded on the consent of those subject to that government.

This essay proved very influential in the years to come.

And as I was reading about this, it struck me, these ideas don't seem so novel or revolutionary.

I mean, to the modern ears, it's commonplace.

We have lived with

This notion of government by this consent of the government for a long time.

And I wonder, was it hard for you as you got deeply into this research to get into the mindset of the 18th century when these ideas were really new?

You know, many of the founders came from very privileged backgrounds.

Some were wealthy farmers, merchants.

Many owned slaves.

James Wilson was different, right?