James Wilson: The Lost Founding Father

Drawing on his new book, The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight, New York Times journalist Jesse Wegman, examines the legacy of a brilliant yet overlooked architect of American democracy. Wilson’s arguments for independence influenced Jefferson, and he drafted the Constitution’s first version, adding “We the people” to affirm popular sovereignty. Though later a Supreme Court justice, financial collapse obscured Wilson’s impact, which Wegman sees as central to the nation’s founding ideas.