Wesleyan Alum Discovers a Founding Father. Rinse and Repeat

Colleges & Universities Wesleyan University
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Move over, Alexander Hamilton. Could another unsung Founding Father be the next metaphor for the times we live in? Wesleyan alum, Jesse Wegman `96, and author of the forthcoming book, “The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People’s Constitution” certainly thinks so.

Wilson first arrived in Philadelphia as a poor 23-year-old immigrant from Scotland. Two decades later, after becoming one of the most celebrated lawyers in America, he attended the 1787 Constitutional Convention in the
same city. Wilson spoke more than all but one of his fellow delegates. From the start, his guiding principle was the power of regular people, whom he saw as “the legitimate source of all authority.” This Founding Father Died in Disgrace. But He Can’t Be Forgotten. - The Atlantic

Here’s more on Jesse Wegman:
Jesse Wegman ’96 on the Founding Father America Forgot

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Wilson sure does have a complicated story, not least when seen through a modern lens. In some circles he is sort of a poster child for unintended consequences.

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Well, the article (which seems to be a quick snapshot of the book) indicates a lot of intentionality on the part of a majority of the delegates to the constitutional convention; they were deathly afraid of universal suffrage.

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Don’t most of them …

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