The People's Founding Father
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Who was James Wilson and why is he missing from most histories of the American founding?
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This man has never seen a day of battle in his life, but now he finds himself at the center of one on his own property. Shots are fired, and men fall before the city cavalry comes to break things up. Though the war against Britain still rages on, this is nothing revolutionary. This is a class struggle between common folk Philadelphians and And one of the wealthy elite, who just happens to be a leading member of the Second Continental Congress. His name? James Wilson. Hi everybody, I'm Don Wilde and welcome to American History Hit. It is a funny thing how the stories of American history have been passed down. Many of us listening on this side of the pond, at least, were drilled as children on the founding story involving certain famous individuals and the legendary documents they created and signed.
But who these founders were is usually a discussion of a handful of gentlemen. when everyone knows a whole bunch of them were in those rooms. Fifty six to be exact, where the Declaration of Independence was concerned, all enshrined by the famous signatures. Today's story involves one of those men not often spoken of. In a new book, The Lost Founder, James Wilson, and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution, released just this summer, its author and our guest today is Jesse Wegman, writer, journalist, and senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Jesse Wegman, welcome to American History Hit. Thank you so much for having me. 56 men. We usually talk about seven of them. Why such a select group of superstar elite? What divides these guys?
Well, I certainly the names that most Americans know were central to the founding of this country. I I don't mean to, you know, take away from any of their accomplishments. Uh, but I think what was astonishing to me was that James Wilson is just sitting there in plain sight and and really has been disappeared from the story of the American founding, even though he was central to it and one of the most prescient of all the founders in terms of seeing where this Country was headed hundreds of years before it got there.
What dramatic events surrounded Wilson’s home in Philadelphia in October 1779?
So I was thrilled when I stumbled upon him and it led me to write this book.
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay. So fascinating to think. It's a seven, it's a list of seven. And for, as you say, very good reason, those guys are remembered well and and deeply. But that leaves a lot. I mean, what's the math there? 56 minus seven. So that leaves 49 guys that nobody talks about very often, and James Wilson being one of them, but is an amazing story and a great book. So let's talk about the one and only James Wilson. Scottish immigrant arrives aged twenty-three in 1765. Can you take me from there?
Sure. So Wilson is born in the Scottish lowlands, so that's outside of Edinburgh, to a very poor farming family, right? There was no expectation that he was going to be part of the elite of the this new country across the sea when he was growing up. But slowly the pieces were falling into place for him in ways that no one could anticipate. He's growing up in the middle of the 18th century in Scotland. At a time of revolutions in that country. So there's all kinds of things happening that are affecting him and really making him into the person who comes over and has such an impact in America.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Who was James Wilson and why is he missing from most histories of the American founding?
0:00–3:17
2
What dramatic events surrounded Wilson’s home in Philadelphia in October 1779?
3:17–7:31
3
How did a Scottish education and the Enlightenment shape Wilson’s political ideas?
7:31–17:42
4
Why did Wilson argue that Parliament had no authority over the colonies in his 1770 essay?
17:42–34:36
5
How did Wilson’s vision of popular sovereignty influence the wording of “We the People” in the Constitution?
34:36–42:21