James Wilson, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

James Wilson

one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence

Date of Birth: 14-Sep-1742

Place of Birth: Ceres, Scotland, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 21-Aug-1798

Profession: judge, politician

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Virgo


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About James Wilson

  • James Wilson (September 14, 1742 – August 21, 1798) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
  • Wilson was elected twice to the Continental Congress, where he represented Pennsylvania, and was a major force in drafting the United States Constitution.
  • A leading legal theorist, he was one of the six original justices appointed by George Washington to the Supreme Court of the United States.
  • He was also one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Born near Leven, Fife, Scotland, Wilson immigrated to Philadelphia in 1766, becoming a teacher at the College of Philadelphia.
  • After studying under John Dickinson, he set up a legal practice in Reading, Pennsylvania.
  • He wrote a well received pamphlet arguing that Parliament's taxation of the Thirteen Colonies was illegitimate due to the colonies' lack of representation in Parliament.
  • He was elected to the Continental Congress and served as president of the Illinois-Wabash Company, a land speculation company. Wilson was a delegate to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, and served on the Committee of Detail, which produced the first draft of the United States Constitution.
  • Along with Roger Sherman, he proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of representation in the United States House of Representatives.
  • He also proposed the Electoral College.
  • After the convention, he campaigned for the ratification of the document, and his "speech in the statehouse yard" was reprinted in newspapers throughout the country.
  • He also played a major role in drafting the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution. In 1789, Wilson became one of the first Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.
  • He also became a professor of law at the College of Philadelphia (which later became the University of Pennsylvania).
  • Wilson suffered financial ruin from the Panic of 1796–97 and was briefly imprisoned in a debtors' prison on two occasions.
  • He suffered a stroke and died in August 1798, becoming the first U.S.
  • Supreme Court justice to die.

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