James Wilson

David Barton – 09/10/2015

James Wilson Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Signer of the Constitution Original Justice of the United States Supreme Court James Wilson had a great influence during the American Founding but has been called “the lost Founder” because of his relative modern obscurity. He was born to a poor family in Scotland 273 years ago today (on September 14, 1742), but managed to attend universities in Glasgow, St. Andrews, and Edinburgh. [1]At the age of 21, he immigrated to America and soon began tutoring at Philadelphia College. He studied law under John Dickinson, a fellow member of the Constitutional Convention.  [2] In 1768, he wrote a pamphlet arguing for American independence but it considered too radical for the times. When public opinion later shifted, it was finally published. Thomas Jefferson copied portions of it for his own use, and it is conceivable that parts of Wilson’s essay even influenced the language of the Declaration. Compare the similarity of Wilson’s writing with the wording of the Declaration:   “All men are by nature equal and free. No one has a right to any authority over another without his consent. All lawful government is founded on the consent of those who are subject to it. Such consent was given with a view to ensure and to increase the happiness of the governed above what they could enjoy in an independent and unconnected state of nature. The consequence is that the happiness of the society is the first law of every government.”  ~ James Wilson “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, …” ~Declaration of Independence   Wilson served as a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress, where he voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. He later was a member of the Constitutional Convention, where he signed the Constitution. [3] Under the new federal government, President George Washington appointed Wilson as an original justice on the U. S. Supreme Court, where he served for 9 years until his death on August 28, 1798. He was buried at Christ Church in Philadelphia. [4] Over recent years, the federal courts have become particularly unfriendly to Christianity and religious faith, but it was not that way under Justice Wilson. In fact, Wilson started America’s first organized legal training while he served on the Court, and he told students: “Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed these two sciences run into each other. . . . All [laws], however, may be arranged in two different classes. 1) Divine. 2) Human. . . . But it should always be remembered that this law, natural or revealed, made for men or for nations, flows from the same Divine source: it is the law of God. . . . Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine.” [5] [1] Nicholas Pederson, “The Lost Founder: James Wilson in American Memory,”  Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, Vol. 22, Is. 2, Art. 3, (May 8, 2013).  See also, Robert K. Wright, Jr. and Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., “James Wilson: Pennsylvania,” Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution (Center of Military History, Washington, D.C., 1987). [2] “James Wilson,” Signers of the Declaration of Independence (2014). [3] “James Wilson, Pennsylvania,” Charters of Freedom: America’s Founding Fathers(accessed September 8, 2015). [4] L. Carroll Judson, A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence(Philadelphia : J. Dobson, and Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1839), p. 130-131. See also, “James Wilson, Pennsylvania,” Charters of Freedom: America’s Founding Fathers(accessed September 8, 2015). [5] James Wilson, The Works of the Honourable James Wilson (Philadelphia: Bronson and Chauncey, 1804), Vol. I, pp. 106 & 103-105.

The Constitution was completed September 17, 1787

American Minute with Bill Federer

“Done…the SEVENTEENTH DAY of SEPTEMBER, in the year of our LORD one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven.”

This is the last line of the U.S. Constitution.

Professors Donald S. Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman published an article in American Political Science Review, 1984, titled “The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late 18th-Century American Political Thought.”

They examined nearly 15,000 writings of the 55 writers of the U.S. Constitution, including newspaper articles, pamphlets, books and monographs, and discovered that the Bible, especially the book of Deuteronomy, contributed 34 percent of all direct quotes made by the Founders.

When indirect Bible citations were included, the percentage rose even higher.

Benjamin Franklin wrote to the Editor of the Federal Gazette, April 8, 1788 (The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Farrand’s Records, Vol. 3, CXCV, pp. 296-297. Documentary History of the Constitution, IV, 567-571):

“I beg I may not be understood to infer, that our general Convention was divinely inspired when it form’d the new federal Constitution…

yet I must own I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence, that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing, and to exist in the posterity of a great nation, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenc’d, guided and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent Beneficent Ruler, in whom all inferior spirits live & move and have their being.”

Presiding over the Constitutional Convention was George Washington, who wrote ten days after his Presidential Inauguration to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia, May 10, 1789:

“If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical Society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it.”

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, had remarked, September 8, 1777:

“The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon, and choosing the forms of government under which they should live. All other constitutions have derived their existence from violence or accidental circumstances.”

James Wilson, who signed the Declaration and Constitution and was appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington, remarked at Pennsylvania’s ratifying convention, November 26, 1787:

“Governments, in general, have been the result of force, of fraud, and accident.

After a period of 6,000 years has elapsed since the creation, the United States exhibit to the world the first instance…of a nation…assembling voluntarily…and deciding calmly concerning that system of government under which they would wish that they and their posterity should live.”

In 1802, Daniel Webster stated in a Fourth of July Oration:

“We live under the only government that ever existed which was framed by the unrestrained and deliberate consultations of the people.

Miracles do not cluster. That which has happened but once in 6,000 years cannot be expected to happen often.

Such a government, once gone, might leave a void, to be filled, for ages, with revolution and tumult, riot and despotism.”

Daniel Webster continued:

“The history of the world is before us…Ambitious men must be restrained by the public morality; when they rise up to do evil, they must find themselves standing alone. Morality rests on religion. If you destroy the foundation, the superstructure must fall…

The civil, the social, the Christian virtues are requisite to render us worthy the continuation of that government which is the freest on earth.”

Ronald Reagan, 1961:

“In this country of ours took place the GREATEST REVOLUTION that has ever taken place IN THE WORLD’S HISTORY… Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another…

Here for the first time in all the THOUSANDS OF YEARS of man’s relation to man…the founding fathers established the idea that you and I had within ourselves the God-given right and ability to determine our own destiny.”

President Calvin Coolidge, 1924:

“The history of government on this earth has been almost entirely…rule of force held in the HANDS OF A FEW. Under our Constitution, America committed itself to power in the HANDS OF THE PEOPLE.”

Chief Justice John Jay wrote in Chisholm v. Georgia:

“THE PEOPLE are the Sovereign of this country.”

President Gerald Ford stated at Southern Methodist University, September 13, 1975:

“Never forget that in America our Sovereign is THE CITIZEN…

The State is a servant of the individual. It must never become an anonymous monstrosity that masters everyone.”

Harvard President Samuel Langdon was a delegate to New Hampshire’s ratifying convention.

His speech, “The Republic of the Israelites An Example to the American States,” June 5, 1788, helped convince New Hampshire to become the 9th State to ratify the U.S. Constitution, thereby putting the Constitution into effect:

“Instead of the twelve tribes of Israel, we may substitute the thirteen States of the American union, and see this application plainly offering itself, viz. —

That as God in the course of his kind providence hath given you an excellent Constitution of government, founded on the most rational, equitable, and liberal principles, by which all that liberty is secured….

and you are impowered to make righteous laws for promoting public order and good morals;

and as he has moreover given you by his Son Jesus Christ…a complete revelation of his will…it will be your wisdom…to…adhere faithfully to the doctrines and commands of the gospel, and practice every public and private virtue.”

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

Roger Sherman and the Constitutional Convention

American Minute with Bill Federer

He was the only person to sign all four of America’s founding documents:

Articles of Association-1774,
Declaration of Independence-1776,
Articles of Confederation-1777,
U.S. Constitution-1787.

Who was he?

Roger Sherman.

At age 19, Roger Sherman’s father died and he supported his family as a shoe cobbler, helping two younger brothers attend college and become clergymen.

Roger Sherman was a surveyor and merchant, but when a neighbor needed legal advice, he studied to help, only to be inspired to be a lawyer.

Roger Sherman was elected a state senator, a judge and a delegate to the Continental Congress.

He was on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, along with Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and Livingston (pictured second from the left in John Trumbull’s famous painting which hangs in the Capitol Rotunda).

He helped draft the Articles of Confederation, and the instructions to an embassy to Canada, which stated:

“You are further to declare that we hold sacred the rights of conscience, and may promise to the whole people, solemnly in our name, the free and undisturbed exercise of their religion.

And…that all civil rights and the right to hold office were to be extended to persons of any Christian denomination.”

On October 17, 1777, when he heard of the British General Burgoyne surrendering over 5,000 troops to the American General Gates at Saratoga, Roger Sherman exclaimed:

“This is the Lord’s doing, and marvelous in our eyes!”

Roger Sherman made 138 speeches at the Constitutional Convention, and helped draft the New Jersey Plan and the Connecticut Compromise, which broke the deadlock between how the large States and small States would be represented.

Patrick Henry described him as one of the three greatest men at the Constitutional Convention.

Roger Sherman is the author of Article 1, Section 10 of the United States Constitution:

“No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”

In his Caveat of Injustice, 1752, Roger Sherman wrote:

“Suppose a man comes to a trader’s shop in this colony to buy goods, and the trader sells him a certain quantity of goods and tells him the price is so many pounds, shillings and pence…to be paid at the expiration of one year…but there is nothing said either by seller or buyer, what currency it is to be paid in…

Now I ask: What does the creditor have a right to demand for a debt so contracted?…

The debtor says that Bills of Credit on the neighboring governments have for many years passed promiscuously with the Bills of Credit on this colony as money…

And the creditor…says that such Bills of Credit are of no intrinsic value, and their…value is fluctuating and very uncertain, and therefore it would be unjust that any person should be obliged to receive them in payment as money…

for money ought to be something of certain value, it being that whereby other things are to be valued…

No government has the right to impose on its subjects any…currency to be received in payments as money which is not of intrinsic value…

because in so doing they would oblige men to part with their estates for that which is worth nothing in itself and which they don’t know will ever procure him any thing.”

Roger Sherman helped Connecticut to ratify the U.S. Constitution and was elected to the first session of United States Congress.

When the First Amendment was introduced, Roger Sherman thought it was unnecessary as religion was under each individual States’ jurisdiction.

In 1788, as a member of the White Haven Congregational Church, Roger Sherman was asked to use his expertise in revising the wording of their creed. In his own handwriting, he wrote:

“I believe…that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a revelation from God, and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him…

That He made man at first perfectly holy, that the first man sinned, and…all became sinners in consequence…and on account of sin are liable to all the miseries of this life, to death, and to the pains of hell forever.

I believe that God…did send His own Son to become man, die in the room and stead of sinners and thus to lay a foundation for the offer of pardon and salvation to all mankind, so as all may be saved who are willing to accept the Gospel offer…”

Elected a U.S. Senator at age 70, Roger Sherman died JULY 23, 1793.

The State of Connecticut placed his statue in the U.S. Capitol and on the grounds of their State Capitol in Hartford, CT.

Inscribed on Roger Sherman’s tomb is:

“He ever adorned the profession of Christianity which he made in youth and…died in the prospect of a blessed immortality.”

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

The Constitutional Convention was divinely inspired

 

Ben Franklin

American Minute with Bill Federer

 

The Constitutional Convention was in a deadlock over how large and small states could be represented equally.

 

Some delegates left.

 

Then, on JUNE 28, 1787, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin spoke and shortly after, the U.S. Constitution became a reality.

 

Franklin stated:

 

“Groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights…

 

In the beginning of the Contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection.

 

Our prayers, Sir, were heard and they were graciously answered.

 

All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending Providence in our favor…

 

And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?”

 

Franklin concluded:

 

“We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’…

 

I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed…no better than the Builders of Babel.”

 

Ben Franklin gave another address at the Constitutional Convention, 1787, titled Dangers of a Salaried Bureaucracy:

 

“Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men…ambition and avarice-the love of power and the love of money…

 

When united…they have…the most violent effects.

 

Place before the eyes of such men a post of honor, that shall, at the same time, be a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it…

 

What kind are the men that will strive for this profitable preeminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters?

 

It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the trust.

 

It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits.

 

These will thrust themselves into your government and be your rulers…”

 

Franklin explained further:

 

“There will always be a party for giving more to the rulers, that the rulers may be able, in return, to give more to them.

 

All history informs us, there has been…a kind of warfare between the governing and the governed; the one striving to obtain more for its support, and the other to pay less…

 

Generally, indeed, the ruling power carries…and we see the revenues of princes constantly increasing, and we see that they are never satisfied, but always in want of more.

 

The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans, and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance, and enable him to plunder at pleasure.

 

There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh-get first all the people’s money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants for ever.

 

It will be said that we do not propose to establish kings…But there is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government…

 

They would rather have one tyrant than five hundred. It gives more of the appearance of equality among citizens; and that they like.

 

I am apprehensive, therefore-perhaps too apprehensive-that the government of the States may, in future times, end in a monarchy…and a king will the sooner be set over us.”

 

Bill FedererThe Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

 

Constitutional Convention

 

June 28, 1787

This Saturday (June 28), marks the 227th anniversary of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin calling the Constitutional Convention to prayer after several weeks of difficult discussions and frequent impasses. The Founders well understood the need to seek God and the important part that God played both in establishing this nation and in the writing of the Constitution.

 

 

As Alexander Hamilton reported after its completion:

For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system which without the finger of God [Luke 11:20] never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.

 

James Madison agreed, and reported:

It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it the finger of that Almighty Hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the Revolution.

 

As far as these delegates were concerned, the finger of God – that is, His Divine power – had guided their writing of the Constitution.

 

Benjamin Franklin also believed this to be the case, explaining:

[I] beg I may not be understood to infer that our general Convention was Divinely inspired when it formed the new federal Constitution . . . [yet] I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing (and to exist in the posterity of a great nation) should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler in Whom all inferior spirits “live and move and have their being” [Acts 17:28].

 

George Washington (president of the Convention) similarly attested:

As to my sentiments with respect to the merits of the new Constitution, I will disclose them without reserve. . . . It appears to me then little short of a miracle that the delegates from so many different states . . . should unite in forming a system of national government.

 

Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration from Philadelphia who closely monitored the proceedings, concurred, openly testifying:

I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as perfectly satisfied that the Union of the States in its form and adoption is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament were the effects of a Divine power.

(For more about the Founders’ views of the “finger of God” and what that meant historically, see the article on this in the Founders’ Bible, from Luke 11:20).

 

As we look forward to celebrating America’s 238th birthday next week. Let us remember that God truly has had His hand involved in the formation of our government and let us take time out, as George Washington recommended, “to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor” on America again.