The Democratic Ideas of James Wilson: a Reappraisal

Abstract

"The services which such a mind as Wilson's, broad, penetrating, exact and luminous can render to a nation can hardly be overestimated. Whoever gives a nation, and most of all to a nation at the outset of its career, sound ?ust principles for the conduct of its government, principles which are in harmony with its character and are capable of progressive expansion as it expands, is a true benefactor to that nation, and deserves to be held in everlasting memory. Such a one was James Wilson. " Lord Bryce's eulogy of Wilson, conceived in the light of liberal democratic ideas, is echoed at many points by a recent biographer, who emphasises Wilson's contribution to American democratic thought and practice.2 |t is regarded with suspicion by those who believe that Wilson could not have been a sincere democrat, and that he used democratic concepts as a device merely to achieve other purposes. "The difficulty with the picture of Wilson as a democrat," writes one critic,3 "is his career in Pennsylvania politics," and he goes on to suggest that Wilson exploited democratic concepts in order to bring about the dominance of the central government. The view that the concept of the "sovereignty of the people" was used hypocritically simply as a device by which to destroy the sovereignty of the states, is one which obtains much support from contemporary opponents of Wilson; he was often accused of anti-democratic inclinations, of haughtiness of manner, of indifference to the interests of the people at large, and he became widely recognized as the leader of the "aristocratic" faction in Pennsylvania.4 It is perfectly evident that in Wilson there was nothing of the open-hearted friend of the people, still less of the demagogue, and it is undeniable that his public aspect was cold and reserved? However, only a close examination of his attitudes and actions can enable us to ascertain whether he was in fact a genuine democrat, or whether he was an astute politician who used popular political concepts to achieve anti-popular purposes.