"With insight and eloquence, Jesse Wegman has done heroic work in bringing a vital but obscure architect of America back into the popular conversation. As Wegman amply proves, James Wilson merits our reconsideration--and our gratitude."
--Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer

"I like to think James Madison would be miffed that James Wilson has finally gotten his due as a major framer of the U.S. Constitution. Jesse Wegman's spellbinding and erudite biography, revealing Wilson's crucial and often cantankerous role as America's most democratic founder, could not arrive at a better time."
--Jill Lepore, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of We the People and These Truths

"Jesse Wegman has written a gripping and deeply researched work of American history. Scottish immigrant, signer of both the Declaration and the Constitution, and the man who coined 'We the People, ' James Wilson believed that power resided in the people themselves, foreseeing a democratic future the country is still struggling to achieve. That he died broke and largely forgotten, his headstone bearing the wrong date of his death, is one of American history's more painful ironies. The Lost Founder restores Wilson to his rightful place and challenges us to reconsider what popular sovereignty really means."
--Ken Burns, award-winning documentary filmmaker and director of PBS' The American Revolution

"Wegman's focus on Wilson's influence makes a convincing case for his importance in the pantheon of Founding Fathers."
--Booklist

"A not-quite founding father gets his due [...] A genuinely fresh look at the birth of the Constitution."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A robust intellectual biography of a fascinating, many-sided figure."
- Publishers Weekly