The Annotated Bobblehead Justice James Wilson
Click the red boxes to view the annotations.
Justice James Wilson, 1789-1790
Like John Jay, James Wilson was a significant, if often overlooked, Founding Father. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, Wilson was elected to the Second Continental Congress and was an influential member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Wilson's pamphlet, Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament (1774), included in his complete works (pictured below), is perhaps the earliest general examination of the grounds of British authority in the colonies.
Wilson helped to write the first draft of the U.S. Constitution, and is given credit for the treason clause (requiring two witnesses or a confession for a treason conviction), a view he developed while defending Loyalists in treason trials after the Revolutionary War.
A highly talented orator, politician and lawyer, Wilson also greatly shaped Pennsylvania's constitution of 1790, and was the College of Pennsylvania's first professor of law.
1. A Case Decided in the Supreme Court of the United States, in February, 1793: In Which is Discussed the Question, "Whether a state be liable to be sued by a private citizen of another state." Boston, 1793. (Chisolm v. Georgia) 
2. The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: As Established by the General Convention ... Philadelphia, 1784. 
3. James Wilson. An Introductory Lecture to a Course of Law Lectures. Philadelphia, 1791. 
4. James Wilson. The Works of the Honourable James Wilson. Philadelphia, 1804. 
5. Philadelphia, 1788. (With speeches of Thomas McKean and James Wilson)
