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12 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1897)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry12 and id is 1 raw text is: Vohumn' XH.] POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY. JAMES WILSON IN THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION. THE work of James Wilson as a framer of the constitution seems not to have received its just recognition. The more careful historians who have worked over the period testify to his ability and influence; but their praise is general, not partic- ular. No one has attempted to isolate him, to show with some definiteness what were his ideas on the more important prob- lems that presented themselves in the organization of the new government, to discover what were his contributions to the wisdom and the statesmanship of the Philadelphia Convention. While it is true, indeed, that historians have given him passing commendation, his name has generally been linked with the names of other men far less deserving ; and this argues lack of full appreciation. We are asked, for example, to admire the work of Gerry and Sherman and Franklin and Robert Morris and Dickinson and Randolph and Mason. Yet some of these men contributed little to the results of the convention ; while others of them were at times obstacles in the way to a reasonable conclusion or advocates of the sheerest folly. If Wilson's work be closely examined, its greatness and worth will appear, and will place him above all but one or two men of the convention. Perhaps Madison alone can be called his equal in judgment and far-sighted wisdom. Certainly Wilson was one of the four men who bore the burden in the heat of the day - who fought with desperate and magnificent energy in the greatest contro- versy of the convention. But for Madison, King, Gouverneur March, I897. [ Number I.