Founder's Quotes - James Wilson

James Wilson was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, delegate from Pennsylvania
to the Constitutional Convention, member of the Committee on Detail, and second only to
Madision as the principal architect of the Constitution. He was a fervent advocate of ratification,
and served as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Ratification Convention. He later served as Associate
Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Professor of Law in the College of Philadelphia, which
merged with the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. He planned a treatise on law to succeed the
Commentaries of William Blackstone, for which the Lectures on Law" 1790-92 was a preliminary
effort, and stands as an important guide to interpreting the Constitution. One of his audience was
George Washington. He did not live long enough to complete that planned treatise, but what he did
complete does shed much light on the original meanings and intentions of the Framers.

"In observations on this subject, we hear the legislature mentioned as the people's representatives.
The distinction, intimated by concealed implication, through probably, not avowed upon reflection,is,
that the executive and judicial powers are not connected with the people by a relation so strong or near
or dear. But is high time that we should chastise our prejudices;
and that we should look upon the different parts of government with a just and impartial eye.
James Wilson (Lectures on Law, 1791) Source

"Liberty and happiness have a powerful enemy on each hand;
on the one hand tyranny, on the other licentiousness [anarchy].
To guard against the latter, it is necessary to give the proper
powers to government; and to guard against the former, it is
necessary that those powers should be properly distributed."
James Wilson

"Liberty and security in government depend not on the limits,
which the rulers may please to assign to the exercise of their
own powers, but on the boundaries, within which their powers are
circumscribed by the constitution. With us, the powers of
magistrates, call them by whatever name you please, are the
grants of the people . . . The supreme power is in them; and in
them, even when a constitution is formed, and government is in
operation, the supreme power still remains. A portion of their
authority they, indeed, delegate; but they delegate that portion
in whatever manner, in whatever measure, for whatever time, to
whatever persons, and on whatever conditions they choose to fix."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice James Wilson (Lectures, 1790-1791)

“[T]o model our political systems upon speculations of lasting tranquillity would be to calculate on the weaker springs of human character.”
Alexander Hamilton

"This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest of ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties.
John Jay (Federalist No. 2)

James Wilson was a lesser known delegate from Pennsylvania. The best known delegate was Benjamin Franklin. Author, scientist, diplomat, raconteur and general wit, Franklin was the best known man in the world.

While the men of the Constitutional Convention were all men of their time, a few were ahead of their time. When one examines the words of Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, one hears the voice of Andrew Jackson some 35 years before that man strode onto the national stage. With James Wilson, one hears the Progressives a century before they evolved from eastern and mid-western Republicanism. Wilson was to interject into the Convention the idea of electing the president by direct popular vote.

By the time the issue of presidential elections was debated at the Convention, temperatures were high and tempers were short. Philadelphia summers are notoriously hot and humid, and the windows of the State House had been closed throughout the process. In this era before daily bathing and deodorants, the handkerchiefs of the day were perfumed for a good reason. The delegates wanted to go home and avoid contention about this last messy issue.

In imitation of the British Parliament, it was first thought that Congress should elect the president. But that would make the president dependent on Congress and violate Madison’s concept of a separation of powers.

Madison cobbled together the idea of electing the president by a quadrennial convention of the states, but held separately at their respective state capitals rather than at one central location. Madison did not anticipate an American version of the British two party system because George Washington, Convention president, told him not to. Washington was opposed to the establishment of British-style political parties with every fiber of his being. It should be noted that the factions that eventually developed in the Cabinet and Congress did not organize themselves into true political parties until Washington’s body had been cold at least a few hours.

As Madison saw it, a state legislature would select the best and brightest non-officeholders to function as the state’s members of the Electoral College. Once the members met at the state capital, they would examine their consciences and vote for the man they thought would make the best president. Madison believed that the college members would choose either a state or regional favorite son in 4 out of 5 elections, and thus only 1 out of 5 presidential elections would be decided by the Electoral College. The remaining elections would be decided by the House of Representatives once no one won enough electoral votes.

James Wilson had a different idea, and he decided to test it on Madison. The best way to do this was plain old Philadelphia hospitality. Wilson invited Madison to dinner at the house.

James Wilson was a Scotsman who had come to the Colonies at the age of 16, and he still spoke with a pronounced Scottish burr. As a youth he had developed a passion for golf, but as the Colonies lacked a proper golf course, Wilson did the next best thing, building a putting green in his back yard. Following dinner, the very tall Wilson took the very short Madison out fo the putting green, stood behind Madison, and – in one of the funnier scenes of that era – wrapped his arms around Madison in an attempt to teach him a proper golf swing. All the time Wilson gave Madison a running monologue on his own unique solution to the problem of presidential elections.

As Wilson saw it, the presidency was a national office, and it simply made sense to elect the president by direct popular vote regardless of state. But what was simple for Wilson was very complicated for Madison.

Politely, Madison explained the political difficulty of moving forward with Wilson’s idea. The Nationalists, desiring to de-emphasize the states, would embrace it – except for the Chief Nationalist, Alexander Hamilton, who would oppose it vehemently. As Hamilton saw it, the federal government needed to be insulated from the transient whims and popular passions of the people. Hamilton saw the people as an undisciplined mob, needing law and monarchical power to keep it in line. The States’ Men were already queasy with what was coming out of the Convention, and this proposal would be a non-starter with them. All things considered, Madison felt that Wilson’s idea, no matter how deserving, was not right for the time.

What emerged from the Convention satisfied no one, but it was one of those occasions when the Good was better than an the Unrealizable Perfect.

James Wilson died penniless due to speculations on frontier land that blew up in his face.

The first proposal to eliminate the Electoral College came from Andrew Jackson in his first State ot the Union letter to Congress in December 1829, in which Jackson argued for direct popular vote. This was based on Jackson’s loss in 1824 in the House. Similar proposals have emerged after the dangerously close elections of 1968 and 2000. The Electoral College is still there, but Wilson’s solution is out there on the sidelines, waiting to be called into the game.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.