ABSTRACT
Two men born in Fife, Scotland, helped to shape the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. James Wilson (born Ceres, near Cupar, Scotland, in 1742; died Edenton, North Carolina, USA, in 1798) signed the Declaration of Independence, led the Federalist side in the 1787 Convention in Philadelphia, signed the US Constitution, became an associate justice of the US Supreme Court, wrote one of the first US law texts, and died soon after being imprisoned for debts due to another signer of the Constitution. His Scottish origins, and what they imply for the texts and original public meanings of the Constitution, have only recently started to be explored. Adam Smith’s influence on the US Constitution is again a recent subject of study. Not only were they both Fifers but Wilson certainly knew Smith’s work. He was probably in Glasgow, borrowing University library books, in 1763-64 and may have attended Smith’s class under him or ThomasYoung, who taught from Smith’s notes after Smith left for France in 1764.
