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James Wilson : Progressive Constitutionalist., Bradley Jay Caffee 1972-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This essay is a biography and ideological interpretation of James Wilson. Wilson was an important member of the Revolutionary generation whom historians and political theorists too often overlook. Moving from the rise of historical interest in Wilson and reasons why Wilson deserves study, this essay tells the story of Wilson's ideological development from the opposition Whig struggles of the 1760s until his law lectures in 1790 and 1791. Originally willing to accept Lockean ideas of contractualism in the British constitution he, like many Americans, rejected such contractualism during the Revolution in favor of an un-transferrable popular sovereignty that could only …