Remembering the nation's 'Lost Founder'

James Wilson, one of the most influential yet forgotten Founding Fathers, emerges as a radical champion of popular sovereignty in Jesse Wegman's new book, The Lost Founder. Though he signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Wilson's legacy has been overshadowed—partly because he was an immigrant from Scotland, partly because he was a difficult personality, and partly because of his controversial support for the three-fifths compromise that counted enslaved people as partial persons for representation. Yet Wilson was the first to argue that Parliament had no authority over the colonies, a foundational idea that deeply influenced Thomas Jefferson. At the Constitutional Convention, Wilson pushed relentlessly for a government based on population, direct election of the president, and the phrase 'We the People'—the very words that define American democracy. Despite losing key battles over Senate structure and slavery, his vision of a people-centered republic remains the soul of the Constitution. Today, Wegman argues, Wilson’s principles are under siege: the Electoral College violates majority rule, the Supreme Court is unrepresentative due to lifetime appointments, and gerrymandering undermines democratic equality. The solution? Term limits for justices and a recommitment to the ideals Wilson fought for—direct, equal, and majority rule. Wegman’s narrative is not just a historical correction but a call to action.