Yesterday as part of the Heritage Foundation's First Principles series Mark David Hall published an article on Founder and Framer James Wilson. Wilson's political philosophy was based upon the principles of democracy and individual right. He and the other founders laid the foundation of those principles in the Constitution, and the American people have continued to build and improve upon that foundation.
James Wilson was one of six persons to have signed by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Colonial.com contains a glowing and effusive biographical sketch of Wilson, while the website Signers of the Declaration carries a more critical summary of his life and work. Hall focuses on Wilson's political thought and his influence upon the drafting of the Constitution. Like many Americans of the revolutionary generation, Wilson believed that the people (not Parliament, not the King) are sovereign and that every individual is endowed with inalienable rights. And like many other Americans who lived through the uncertainty and chaos of the Articles of Confederation, Wilson thought it imperative that the United States should adopt a strong central government; for example, even under the Confederation Wilson thought that Congress had the power to create a Bank of the United States. What distinguished Wilson at the Constitutional Convention, however, was his faith in democracy.
The Constitution created a Republican form of government – power rests with the people, and the representatives of the people make, execute, and interpret the law. But the Framers were distrustful of democracy and under the original Constitution the only portion of the federal government directly elected by the people was the House of Representatives. Senators were to be selected by the State legislatures, the President was to be elected by the Electoral College, and federal judges were to be appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. Wilson would have broadened the scope of our democracy right from the start. According to Hall, Wilson stood for the following principles:
• To ensure that the base of the pyramid of government was as broad as possible, he opposed property qualifications for voters.
• He was one of relatively few Founders to argue for the direct, popular election of both Representatives and Senators and was virtually alone in his conviction that members of both houses ought to be elected from proportionally sized districts.
• More surprising still, he concluded that the President should be "the man of the people" and therefore elected directly by them.
• Finally, he opposed such restrictions on elected officials as term limits and age requirements, believing that the people should be free to elect anyone they choose.
Over the succeeding generations we have moved closer to Wilson's democratic ideals. We have abolished property qualifications for voters, eliminated the poll tax, and admitted women, blacks, and young people to the franchise. The 17th Amendment provided for the direct election of Senators. Supreme Court decisions like Reynolds v. Sims established the principle of "one person, one vote" and required legislative districts to have equal populations. While we are still burdened with the Electoral College in the election of the President, tradition requires the Electors to abide by the popular vote in each State. Finally, while there are term limits for the Presidency, the Supreme Court has struck down term limits for members of Congress.
The clear trend of history has been for America to become "a more perfect union" – to improve our democracy – to broaden its extent and to welcome more people into its embrace. James Wilson helped to launch us on this course.
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I read a lot of work that comes out of the Heritage Foundation. This was an interesting insight into James Wilson. I don't have anything profound to add to this blog thread right now, but I will think on it.