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Wilson, James

Born September 14, 1742, in Carskerdo, Scotland
Died August 21, 1798, in Edenton, NC

Federal Judicial Service:
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Nominated by George Washington on September 24, 1789, to a new seat authorized by 1 Stat. 73. Confirmed by the Senate on September 26, 1789, and received commission on September 29, 1789. Service terminated on August 21, 1798, due to death.

Supreme Court Oath:
October 5, 1789

Allotment as Circuit Justice:

Middle Circuit, Spring 1790-Spring 1792, Spring 1793, Spring 1794, Spring 1795-Fall 1796
Eastern Circuit, Fall 1792-Spring 1794
Southern Circuit, Fall 1794, Fall 1797

Education:
University of Glasgow
University of Edinburgh
University of St. Andrews
Read law, 1767

Professional Career:

Private practice, Reading, Pennsylvania, 1768-1770
Private practice, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1770-1774
Delegate, Continental Congress, 1774-1777, 1783, 1785-1787
Businessman, land speculator and legal advisor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1777-1787
Avocat général for maritime and commercial causes, appointed by French government, 1779-1783
Delegate, Federal Constitutional Convention, 1787
Professor of law, College of Philadelphia, 1789
Drafter, Pennsylvania Constitution, 1790

Bibliography

Adams, Randolph G. “The Legal Theories of James Wilson.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register, vol. 68, no. 4 (1919-1920): 337-55.

Aitken, Robert. James Wilson: A Lost American Founder. Litigation, vol. 29, no. 4 (Summer 2003): 61-66.

Alexander, Lucien Hugh. “James Wilson – Nation Builder.” Green Bag, vol. 19, no. 1 (Jan. 1907): 1-9.

________. “James Wilson – Nation Builder Part II.” Green Bag, vol. 19, no. 2 (Feb. 1907): 98-109.

________. “James Wilson – Nation Builder Part III.” Green Bag, vol. 19, no. 3 (Mar. 1907): 137-46.

________. “James Wilson – Nation Builder Part IV.” Green Bag, vol. 19, no. 5 (May 1907): 265-76.

________. “James Wilson, Patriot, and the Wilson Doctrine.” North American Review, vol. 183, no. 603 (Nov. 16 1906): 971-89.

Andrews, James DeWitt. “James Wilson and His Relation to Jurisprudence and Constitutional Law.” American Law Register, vol. 49, no. 12 (1902): 708-28.

Bartrum, Ian. “James Wilson and the Moral Foundations of Popular Sovereignty.” Buffalo Law Review, vol. 64, no. 2 (Apr. 2016): 225-304.

Bryce, James. “James Wilson: An Appreciation.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 60, no. 4 (Oct. 1936): 358-61.

Carson, Hampton L. “James Wilson and James Iredell: A Parallel and a Contrast.” American Bar Association Journal, vol. 7, no. 3 (Mar. 1921): 123-31.

________. “The Works of James Wilson.” American Law Register and Review, vol. 44, no. 10 (Oct. 1986): 633-41.

Clagett, Martin. “James Wilson – His Scottish Background: Corrections and Additions.” Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, vol. 79, no. 2 (Spring 2012): 154-76.

Conrad, Stephen A. “James Wilson’s ‘Assimilation of the Common-Law Mind.’” Northwestern University Law Journal, vol. 84, no. 1 (1990): 186-220.

________. “Metaphor and Imagination in James Wilson’s Theory of a Federal Union.” Law and Social Inquiry, vol. 13, no. 1 (1988): 1-70.

________. “Polite Foundation: Citizenship and Common Sense in James Wilson’s Republican Theory.” Supreme Court Review, vol. 1984 (1984): 359-388.

Dennison, George M. “The ‘Revolution Principle’: Ideology and Constitutionalism in the Thought of James Wilson.” Review of Politics, vol. 39, no. 2 (Apr. 1977): 157-91.

DiClerico, Robert E. “James Wilson’s Presidency.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 2 (Spring 1987): 301-17.

Ewald, William. “James Wilson and the Drafting of the Constitution.” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, vol. 10, no. 5 (Jun. 2008): 901-1010.

________. “James Wilson and the Scottish Enlightenment.” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, vol. 12, no. 4 (Apr. 2010): 1053-114.

Gerber, Scott Douglas. Seriatim: The Supreme Court before John Marshall. New York: NYU Press, 1998.

Hall, Mark David. The Political and Legal Philosophy of James Wilson, 1742-1798. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997).

Hassell, A. Robinson. “James Wilson: A Founding Father Lost along the Way.” Judges’ Journal, vol. 54, no. 1 (Winter 2015): 20-9.

Hills, Roderick M., Jr. “The Reconciliation of Law and Liberty in James Wilson.” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, vol. 12 (Summer 1989): 889-940.

Kelland, Clarence B. “James Wilson: Expounder and Defender of the Constitution, and Founder of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.” Law Student’s Helper, vol. 17, no. 7 (Jul. 1909): 209-12.

Klingelsmith, M.C. “James Wilson and the So-Called Yazoo Frauds.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register, vol. 56, no. 1 (Jan. 1908): 1-27.

Knapp, Aaron T. “Law’s Revolutionary: James Wilson and the Birth of American Jurisprudence.” Journal of Law and Politics, vol. 29, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 189-303.

Leavelle, Arnaud B. “James Wilson and the Relation of the Scottish Metaphysics to American Political Thought.” Political Science Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 3 (Sep. 1942): 394-410.

McCarthy, Daniel J. “James Wilson and the Creation of the Presidency.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 4 (Fall 1987): 689-96.

McLaughlin, Andrew C. “James Wilson in the Philadelphia Convention.” Political Science Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 1 (Mar. 1897): 1-20.

Nedelsky, Jennifer. Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism: The Madisonian Framework and its Legacy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Obering, William F. The Philosophy of Law of James Wilson. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1938.

Pedersen, Nicholas. “Note: The Lost Founder: James Wilson in American Memory.” Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, vol. 22, no. 2 (Summer 2010): 257-338.

Pierce, James Oscar. “James Wilson as a Jurist.” American Law Review, vol. 38, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1904).

Read, James H. Power versus Liberty: Madison, Hamilton, Wilson, and Jefferson. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2000.

Robinson, Daniel N. “Do the People of the United States form a Nation? James Wilson’s Theory of Rights.” International Journal of Constitutional Law, vol. 8, no. 2 (2010): 287-98.

Roy, Deborah A. “Justice William Brennan, Jr., James Wilson, and the Pursuit of Equality and Liberty.” Cleveland State Law Review, vol. 61, no. 3 (2013): 665-712.

Sher, Jeremy M. “A Question of Dignity: The Renewed Significance of James Wilson’s Writings on Popular Sovereignty in the Wake of Alden v. Maine.” New York University Annual Survey of American Law, vol. 61, no. 3 (2005): 591-627.

Smith, William C. “James Wilson and the Philosophy of Freedom in the American Revolution.” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 50, no. 3 (Sep. 1939): 65-71.

Smith, Charles Page. James Wilson, Founding Father, 1742-1789. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1956.

Wilmarth, Arthur E., Jr. “Elusive Foundation: John Marshall, James Wilson, and the Problem of Reconciling Popular Sovereignty and Natural Law Jurisprudence in the New Federal Republic.” George Washington University Law Review, vol. 72, no. 1-2 (Dec. 2003): 113-196.

Wu, John C.H. “The Legal Theories of James Wilson.” China Law Review, vol. 2, no. 4 (Apr. 1925): 13-23.

Zink, James R. “James Wilson versus the Bill of Rights: Progress, Popular Sovereignty, and the Idea of the U.S. Constitution.” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 67, no. 2 (Jun. 2014): 253-65.

________. “The Language of Liberty and Law: James Wilson on America’s Written Constitution.” American Political Science Review, vol. 103, no. 3 (Aug. 2009): 442-55.

“James Wilson and the Formation of the Constitution.” American Law Review, vol. 34, no. 4 (Jul.-Aug. 1900): 481-99.

Manuscript Collections

American Philosophical Society
Philadelphia, Pa.
James Wilson account book and diary, 1773-1786.
1 vol.; collection contains Wilson's diary and miscellaneous account books.

Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
James Wilson collection, 1784-1795.
8 items; collection is a part of the Miscellaneous Manuscripts collection.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pa.
James Wilson papers, 1718-1857.
ca. 1,500 items; collection contains correspondence and other papers relating to the early U.S. government and to Wilson's business and professional activities.

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Wilson, James