New York Times journalist Jesse Wegman will tell the story of James Wilson, a Founding Father whose bold vision shaped American democracy but whose legacy was lost to scandal.

As a young lawyer, James Wilson made a celebrated case for American independence in an essay that inspired the famous words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” He wrote the first draft of the Constitution and, along with the more famous James Madison, played perhaps the essential role in its ultimate creation.

Instead of being remembered as one of the nation’s great political thinkers, Wilson was virtually written out of history. But in The Lost Founder, Wegman brings to life the most prescient of the earliest patriots and makes a convincing argument that scandal should not diminish the life and impact of a brilliant, complicated man whose vision for his country could not be more relevant today.

“With insight and eloquence, Jesse Wegman has done heroic work in bringing a vital but obscure architect of America back into the popular conversation.” - John Meacham

"A man of alarming contradictions, James Wilson was both the most progressive, egalitarian of the nation's founders, and also a reckless investor obsessed with property and wealth. Wegman does Wilson justice by revealing a flawed man's ultimate victory in helping shape a government based on a phrase he coined: "We the People." - reviewed by Mike Hare

JESSE WEGMAN is a Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, where he writes about Supreme Court reform and constitutional amendments. From 2013 to 2025, he was a member of the New York Times editorial board, covering law and politics, the Supreme Court, democracy, and electoral reforms. His first book, Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College, was published in 2020.

DR. ROGER LEEDS recently retired as a Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Director of the School’s Center for International Business and Public Policy. He also has taught at Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University’s Graduate Business School. He was the founding Chairman of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), a global industry association that conducts research and outreach on private equity and venture capital investing in developing countries. Earlier in his career Dr. Leeds spent two years at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, teaching and heading a research project on privatization in developing countries.