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James Wilson — Former Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States
Figures of the early national era (1742–1798)
Wilson, a Scottish-born lawyer, was one of the first colonists to conclude that Parliament had no authority over the American colonies.
In 1774, he wrote that he could find no “constitutional line” acknowledging Parliament’s power. Later, as a member of the committee that wrote the United States Constitution in 1787, Wilson advocated that the President and members of both houses of Congress be elected by popular vote.
Wilson was a member of the Second Continental Congress in 1776 and was at first a proponent of a strong national government. His defense of British loyalists as well as land speculations and trade interests led to an attack on his home by the Philadelphia militia in 1779.
A few persons were killed before, Wilson was rescued. In 1782, Wilson was elected to the Congress of the Confederation and also served in it from 1785 to 1787. He was appointed an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme court in 1789.
