Jesse Wegman
speaker
281 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Jun 2026
last heard 6 Jul
Jesse Wegman’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
And it's true, you know, few if any of the other founders that he worked with had that kind of background, had that kind of upbringing.
So Wilson does not have a direct role in the drafting of the Declaration itself.
That's obviously Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams and a few of the others that we know well.
But what Wilson did do was write this essay that he first drafted in 1768, arguing that the British Parliament had no authority at all over the colonies.
This was a groundbreaking argument at the time because everyone else was trying to argue that, well, Parliament has some power over us, Parliament is sovereign over us, but
You know, they can't impose taxes.
You know, all of the things that we know the colonists were arguing over are against this backdrop of parliament being sovereign, parliament having ultimate authority over the colonies.
James Wilson is the first to argue, no, they have zero.
They have no authority over us at all.
Now, this is such a groundbreaking argument that one of his mentors reads it and says, James, you're a young man.
You have a
big career ahead of you, don't put this out there yet.
It's too bold.
So he put it away in a drawer for six years.
But in 1774, he publishes it.
It's published anonymously.
And instantly, it was attributed to Benjamin Franklin, who very quickly says, no, this isn't by me.
It's by a man named James Wilson.
And suddenly, people start to find out who this guy is.
Showing 41–60 of 281 · page 3 of 15
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