4
THE GREEN BAG
Although a warrior of the Revolution, James Wilson's civil services have over shadowed every other feature of his life, and the historian of the future must record that more than any of his compatriots, more than Washington, Franklin, Madison, or even Hamilton, his intellect shaped the destinies of the nation in those crisal forma tive years of the Republic. Theodore Roosevelt, since the days of James Madison, the most fertile of all our presidents in initiative power, delving back through the pages of history, has recognized in James Wilson the great constitutionmaker and interpreter, and in these words acclaims his own appreciation of his worth : "I cannot do better than base my theory of governmental action upon the words and deeds of one of Pennsylvania's greatest sons, Justice James Wilson." And it is indeed upon a solid foundation of constructive achievement, that James Wilson's fame rests. An adopted son of Pennsylvania and America, he, the sturdy scion of the clans of Scotland, stands as the Old World's most able, potent, and powerful contribution to American freedom and world-wide civil liberty. Born of godly parentage, on the 14th of September, 1742, in or near St. An drew's, Scotland, the ancient capital of the Pictish kingdom, it was but natural that the civil conditions then dominating Scot land should have had a marked influence upon the development of his character. The Scottish Reformation had already made its impress upon the religious life of the people; and Wilson was reared and grew to manhood amid those stirring scenes follow ing the Jacobite rebellion of 1745-46, which resulted in the arbitrary suppression under form of law, not only of many High land customs dear to the people, but of the Highland language itself, and in the conversion by the nobility of the lands into sheep walks and deer parks, thereby com pelling migration, unless the farmers were
willing to remain as tenants at will under oppressive conditions. Of his parentage, at the present time little is positively known, but a careful ex amination by his future biographers of the but partially explored and widely scattered wealth of manuscripts, will no doubt lead to more extended information. Letters from his widowed mother, Aleson Landale Wilson, who never crossed to the New World, indicate that his parents had edu cated him with a view to the ministry, and they also evidence her religious fervor and deep interest in the welfare of her son. His own filial devotion never ceased, and he continued to aid in her support, even when he himself was in dire financial straits. There is at present a slight though nonpresumptive doubt in the mind of the writer as to whether James Wilson's father was one James Wilson, of whom we have but scant information, or Alexander Wilson, the distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, for both had sons at Glasgow named James Wilson about the time the American James Wilson was a student there. The James Wilson, Sr., re ferred to was not a resident of St. Andrews, but of Douglas Parish in the County of Clydesdale; and all the probabilities indi cate that the father of James Wilson, the American patriot, was Professor Alexander Wilson who was located at St. Andrews at the time of the birth there of the American James Wilson in 1742. This Alexander Wilson was born at St. Andrews in 17 14, his father being Patrick Wilson, the town clerk; and it was from St. Andrews University he was graduated in 1733 with the degree of M.A., also receiving from it in 1772 the honorary degree of M.D. Shortly prior to 1760, he engaged in business in Glasgow and in the latter year became the first professor of astronomy in its University. He had a deep philosophic mind and materially ad vanced the science of astronomy; indeed it was he who in 1769 made the celebrated discovery regarding solar spots and was the
