Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Wilson, Woodrow

WILSON, Woodrow, educator, b. in Staunton, Va., 28 Dec., 1856. He is a son of the Rev. Joseph R. Wilson, D. D., and nephew of the Rev. James Woodrow, D. D., of Columbia, S. C. He was graduated at Princeton in 1879, studied law at the University of Virginia, and practised at Atlanta, Ga., in 1882-'3. Preferring to devote himself to special studies, he abandoned the legal profession and took a post-graduate course in history and politics at Johns Hopkins university in 1883-'5, receiving the degree of Ph. D. from that institution in 1886, and that of LL. D. from Wake Forest college, N. C.. in 1887. He was associate in history at Bryn Mawr college, Pa., in 1885-'6, and associate professor of history and political science in the same college in 1886-'8. In the latter year he was elected to the chair of history and political economy in Wesleyan university. Prof. Wilson has published “Congressional Government: a Study in American Politics” (Boston, 1885). This work has attracted attention in England, Belgium, and Germany. In England it has been accepted as an authority on American institutions. It has also been epitomized by Prof. Émile de Laveleye in the “Revue des Deux-Mondes.” He has contributed to a collection of essays by American economists, entitled “The National Revenues” (Chicago, 1888), and articles on political and administrative subjects to periodicals.