James Wilson's arc is one of the most dramatic in the founding generation. Born in Fife, Scotland in 1742, he absorbed the Scottish Enlightenment — Hutcheson, Hume, Adam Smith — before emigrating to Philadelphia in 1765. He rose fast: Continental Congress delegate, signer of the Declaration of Independence, dominant voice at the Constitutional Convention, first law professor at the College of Philadelphia.
At the Convention he argued more than almost anyone, pushing the principle that sovereignty derived from the people directly — not the states. The Electoral College framework is substantially his design. He is one of only six men who signed both the Declaration and the Constitution, and arguably the most important legal mind of the founding era that almost no one knows.
He wanted desperately to be the first Chief Justice, and told Washington so. Washington chose Jay — and made Wilson an associate justice instead.