(1742-1798)
James Wilson was born and educated in Scotland.
He arrived in America in 1765, where he taught and studied law.
He set up a legal practice in Pennsylvania.
Wilson was active in the revolutionary effort, voting for independence and signing the Declaration.
After the war, he defended loyalists and their sympathizers.
Wilson's shift to conservatism angered many people in Pennsylvania, but by the 1780s, Wilson was again elected to the Continental Congress.
He was an influential delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, where he spoke even more often than James Madison.
Wilson led the ratification effort in Pennsylvania.
In 1789, he was appointed to the Supreme Court.
