James Wilson (1742 - 1798)

James Wilson was born in Scotland on September 14, 1742. In 1765, Wilson immigrated to the colony of Pennsylvania. He read law, and began practicing in western Pennsylvania in 1767. Wilson became interested in politics shortly after this time, and was elected to serve in the Second Continental Congress in 1775. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Wilson was a strong nationalist, and was a critic of the Articles of Confederation. Wilson's work at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 is considered by many to be second in importance only to James Madison. Wilson contributed to the idea of separation of powers and the importance of the executive branch of the federal government. After Pennsylvania ratified (46-23) the Constitution in December 1788, due in large part to Wilson's efforts, a mob set upon him and began to beat him until he lay prostrate. It is said, perhaps in embellishment of the facts, that Wilson would have died but for the actions of  a Revolutionary War veteran, who covered Wilson's body with his own. 

President George Washington nominated Wilson as an Associate Justice in 1789, and Wilson became one of the members of the first Supreme Court. Wilson wrote relatively few opinions in an era in which seriatim opinions were the norm. His most important opinion was in the case of Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), which permitted a resident of South Carolina to sue the state of Georgia in federal court. The decision would eventually be reversed by the adoption of the Eleventh Amendment in 1798 (the Amendment itself was ratified by the necessary 3/4 states by early 1795).

Like many others of his time, Wilson speculated in land, to his eventual regret. Even at the time of his appointment, there was much speculation about "the deranged state of his Affairs," in the words of Benjamin Rush. In 1795, Wilson speculated in companies involved in the Yazoo land scandal. Wilson's land speculation failures caused him to go bankrupt, and he was twice imprisoned in Pennsylvania for failing to pay his debts. To escape his creditors, he left Pennsylvania for North Carolina, where he died on August 21, 1798.

His successor was Bushrod Washington, who had read law under Wilson.