Justice James Wilson was a Scottish-born lawyer and scholar. Wilson wrote an influential argument that Parliament's taxation of the American colonies was illegitimate because the colonies had no representation in Parliament. He was elected to the Continental Congress twice. In that capacity, he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a veteran of the Revolutionary War and a major contributor at the Constitutional Convention, where he served on the Committee of Detail (that produced the first draft of the Constitution). He is credited with being the principal author of the executive branch. As the first Professor of Law at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania), Wilson taught the first course on the new Constitution to Washington and his Cabinet in 1789-90. Washington named Wilson as one of the first Associate Justices to the Supreme Court. Wilson was the first Justice to die in office.
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