117-700: James Wilson (September 14, 1742 – August 21, 1798) was a Scottish-born American Founding Father , legal scholar, jurist, and statesman who served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1789 to 1798. Wilson was elected twice to the Continental Congress , was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence , and was a major participant in drafting the U.S. Constitution becoming one of only six people to sign both documents. A leading legal theorist, he
234-424: A rear admiral and computer scientist , was the oldest officer and highest-ranking woman in the U.S. armed forces on her retirement at the age of 80 in 1986. Isabella Cannon , the former Mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina , served as the first female mayor of a U.S. state capital. The Scottish-born Alexander Winton built one of the first American automobiles in 1896, and specialized in motor racing . He broke
351-745: A stroke at age 55, while visiting a friend in Edenton, North Carolina . He was buried in the Johnston cemetery on Hayes Plantation near Edenton but was reinterred in 1906 at Christ Churchyard , Philadelphia. Scottish American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans ( Scottish Gaelic : Ameireaganaich Albannach ; Scots : Scots-American ) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland . Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans , descendants of Ulster Scots , and communities emphasize and celebrate
468-685: A Presbyterian farming family. He studied at the universities of St Andrews , Glasgow and Edinburgh , but never obtained a degree. While he was a student, he studied Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, including Francis Hutcheson , David Hume and Adam Smith . He also played golf. Imbued with the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment, he moved to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, in British America in 1765, carrying letters of introduction that enabled him to begin tutoring and then teaching at The academy and College of Philadelphia (now
585-478: A chief executive who would be energetic, independent, and accountable. He was the first to propose a unitary executive (a proposal which initially provoked concern—having only recently won independence from the British Crown, many delegates were concerned vesting executive power in a single individual would lead to monarchy ), and was its strongest proponent. Rival proposals included a triumvirate or leaving
702-652: A common heritage. The majority of Scotch-Irish Americans originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to the province of Ulster in Ireland (see Plantation of Ulster ) and thence, beginning about five generations later, to North America in large numbers during the eighteenth century. The number of Scottish Americans is believed to be around 25 million, and celebrations of Scottish identity can be seen through Tartan Day parades, Burns Night celebrations, and Tartan Kirking ceremonies. Significant emigration from Scotland to America began in
819-446: A field near Pitscottie, he was greeted in the village where his flag was carried in procession and the church bell rung in his honour. While agriculture remains important to the local economy, many local residents now commute to work in nearby towns and cities such as Perth , Cupar , Dundee , St. Andrews and Glenrothes . A pottery in the village has revived the manufacture of traditional Fife Wemyss Ware . The Fife Folk Museum
936-528: A lesser extent, during the twentieth century, when Scottish heavy industry declined. This new wave peaked in the first decade of the twentieth century, contributing to a hard life for many who remained behind. Many qualified workers emigrated overseas, a part of which, established in Canada, later went on to the United States. In the nineteenth century, American authors and educators adopted Scotland as
1053-430: A majority of electoral votes). Yet further discussion uncovered consequences of legislative selection that many delegates considered objectionable; in particular, they worried that if the president was allowed to seek a second term (a widely supported notion), then legislative selection would make the president dependent on the legislature for re-eligibility, imperiling the principle of separation of powers . Deadlocked on
1170-540: A man of the people who embodied the national responsibility for the public good and provided transparency or accountability by being a highly visible national leader, as opposed to numerous largely anonymous congressmen. Wilson's most lasting impact on the country came as a member of the Committee of Detail , which wrote out the first draft of the United States Constitution. He wanted senators and
1287-442: A model for cultural independence. In the world of letters, Scottish literary icons James Macpherson , Robert Burns , Walter Scott , and Thomas Carlyle had a mass following in the United States, and Scottish Romanticism exerted a seminal influence on the development of American literature. The works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne bear its powerful impression. Among the most notable Scottish American writers of
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#17327906933551404-631: A number of notable Scottish Gaelic poets active in the United States since the eighteenth century, including Aonghas MacAoidh and Domhnall Aonghas Stiùbhart . One of the few relics of Gaelic literature composed in the United States is a lullaby composed by an anonymous woman in the Carolinas during the American Revolutionary War. It remains popular to this day in Scotland. More than 160,000 Scottish emigrants migrated to
1521-587: A response, was a form of musical worship initially developed for non-literate congregations and Africans in America were exposed to this by Scottish Gaelic settlers as well as immigrants of other origins. However, the theory that the African-American practice was influenced mainly by the Gaels has been criticized by ethnomusicologist Terry Miller, who notes that the practice of " lining out " hymns and psalms
1638-969: A second-year course in late 1791 or in early 1792 (by which time the College of Philadelphia merged with University of the State of Pennsylvania to become the University of Pennsylvania), but at some unrecorded point the lectures to Congress stopped again and were never resumed. They were not published (except for the first) until after his death, in an edition produced by his son Bird Wilson in 1804. The University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia officially traces its foundation to Wilson's lectures to Congress and Wilson also continued to teach law to Penn students until his death in 1798. Wilson's final years were marked by financial failures. He assumed heavy debts investing in land that became liabilities with
1755-672: A strong national government, and for legislative representation to be proportional to population. To this end, he championed the popularly elected House of Representatives , opposed the Senate (and, unable to prevent its inclusion, advocated for the direct election of senators), supported a national popular vote for the selection of the president , and argued that the Constitution should be ratified directly by citizens in state conventions rather than by state legislatures. Wilson also advocated for broader suffrage (he was, for instance, one of
1872-818: A well-received pamphlet arguing that the British Parliament 's taxation of the Thirteen Colonies was illegitimate because the colonies lacked representation in Parliament. In 1775, he was elected to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration the next year. In addition to his roles in public service, Wilson served as president of the Illinois-Wabash Company , a land speculation venture. Wilson
1989-592: A £395,000 project to renovate the Museum. The village name signifies "place to the west" from the Scottish Gaelic Siar meaning "west", probably in relation to St Andrews Locational endings in -es are common in East Fife. Suggestions that the name originated from an early dedication of the local kirk, such as to "Saint Siris", Saint Cyrus or Saint Cyricus are now discounted. Ceres was
2106-635: Is dominated by the Parish Church. It has what is possibly the shortest High Street in Scotland - just a few houses on each side. In a prominent position by the Bow Butts is a monument commemorating the men of Ceres who fought in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. It was erected on the six hundredth anniversary of the battle, in 1914. The Italian balloonist Vincenzo Lunardi landed in the parish after his first flight in Scotland in 1785. Fetched from
2223-469: Is its 18th-century statue of "The Provost ". It is thought to depict the Rev. Thomas Buchanan (related to the 17th-century theologian George Buchanan ), who became the last church provost of Ceres in 1578. The figure portrays him as a toby jug and is possibly satirical . The sculptor, a local stonemason named James Howie, also carved a panel below the figure depicting the Battle of Bannockburn . The village
2340-519: Is located in the village in a range of buildings including the old weigh-house where grain was weighed at a tron on market days. The building also served as a tolbooth for locking up minor offenders and the village jougs are still attached. The museum commemorates rural life of a bygone era. The museum began in 1968 in the renovation and conversion of the former weigh-house and adjoining cottages through an initiative by Cupar & North Fife Preservation Society. A fundraising campaign in 2003-4 enabled
2457-411: Is lost. Secrecy may be equally necessary as dispatch. But, can either secrecy or dispatch be expected, when, to every enterprise, mutual communication, mutual consultation, and mutual agreement among men, perhaps of discordant views, of discordant tempers, and of discordant interests, are indispensably necessary? How much time will be consumed! and when it is consumed, how little business will be done! When
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#17327906933552574-402: Is one of a few Scottish villages to have a village green . It is known as the "Bow Butts" since its use as an archery practice ground in medieval times. The Ceres Burn runs through the village and alongside the green. An old packhorse bridge, known as the "Bishop's Bridge" has spanned the burn since the 17th century and still stands close to a more modern road bridge. A feature of the village
2691-555: Is predominant and supreme. —James Wilson One of the most prominent lawyers of his time, Wilson was the most learned of the Framers of the Constitution. He was one of the most prolific speakers at the Constitutional Convention, with James Madison 's notes indicating that Wilson spoke 168 times, second only in number to Gouverneur Morris . Wilson argued in support of greater popular control of governance ,
2808-575: The Encarta encyclopedia and co-created the popular board game Cranium . Ceres, Fife Ceres is a village in Fife , Scotland, located in a small glen approximately 2 miles (3 km) over the Ceres Moor from Cupar and 7 mi (11 km) from St Andrews . The former parish of that name included the settlements of Baldinnie, Chance Inn, Craigrothie, Pitscottie and Tarvit Mill. Ceres
2925-482: The Cape Fear valley of North Carolina were centers of Loyalist resistance. A small force of Loyalist Highlanders fell at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in 1776. Scotch-Irish Patriots defeated Scottish American Loyalists in the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Many Scottish American Loyalists, particularly Highlanders, emigrated to Canada after the war. Uncle Sam is the national personification of
3042-605: The Civil War , and a monument to their memory was erected in Edinburgh , Scotland, in 1893. Winfield Scott , Ulysses S. Grant , Joseph E. Johnston , Irvin McDowell , James B. McPherson , Jeb Stuart and John B. Gordon were of Scottish descent, George B. McClellan and Stonewall Jackson Scotch-Irish. Douglas MacArthur and George Marshall upheld the martial tradition in the twentieth century. Grace Murray Hopper ,
3159-539: The Illinois-Wabash Company during the War for Independence and was made its president in 1780. He became the company's largest single investor, owning one and a half shares outright and two shares by proxy, totaling over 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of land. Wilson further expanded his land holdings by cofounding the Canna Company with Mark Bird, Robert Lettis Hooper, and William Bingham in order to sell land along
3276-464: The New World were a man named Haki and a woman named Hekja, slaves owned by Leif Eiriksson . The Scottish couple were runners who scouted for Thorfinn Karlsefni 's expedition in c. 1010, gathering wheat and the grapes for which Vinland was named. The controversial Zeno letters have been cited in support of a claim that Henry Sinclair, earl of Orkney , visited Nova Scotia in 1398. In
3393-591: The Scottish Borders . His son Adam II and grandson Adam Abraham (b. Cumberland, England) left for the colonies in the 1730s settling in Pennsylvania. Other Scottish American moonwalkers were the fourth, Alan Bean , the fifth, Alan Shepard, the seventh, David Scott (also the first to drive on the Moon), and the eighth, James Irwin . Scottish Americans Howard Aiken and Grace Murray Hopper created
3510-633: The Scottish Enlightenment contributed to the intellectual ferment of the American Revolution . In 1740, the Glasgow philosopher Francis Hutcheson argued for a right of colonial resistance to tyranny. Scotland's leading thinkers of the revolutionary age, David Hume and Adam Smith , opposed the use of force against the rebellious colonies. According to the historian Arthur L. Herman : "Americans built their world around
3627-661: The Susquehanna River in New York. Additionally, Wilson individually bought huge quantities of land in Pennsylvania in 1784 and 56,000 acres (23,000 ha) of land in Virginia during the 1780s. To round out his holdings, Wilson, in conjunction with Michael and Bernard Gratz, Levi Hollingsworth, Charles Willing, and Dorsey Pentecost, purchased 321,000 acres (130,000 ha) of land south of the Ohio River . During
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3744-642: The Three-fifths Compromise , which counted three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population for the purposes of representation in the United States House of Representatives . While preferring the direct election of the president through a national popular vote , he proposed the use of an electoral college , which provided the basis of the Electoral College system ultimately adopted by
3861-642: The United States , and sometimes more specifically of the American government , with the first usage of the term dating from the War of 1812 . The American icon Uncle Sam, who is known for embodying the American spirit, was based on a businessman from Troy, New York , Samuel Wilson , whose parents sailed to America from Greenock , Scotland , has been officially recognized as the original Uncle Sam. He provided
3978-431: The "principal architect of the executive branch", "probably the single most important author of Article II", and the man whose "conception of the presidency...was in the final analysis the presidency we got". Using his understanding of civic virtue as defined by the Scottish Enlightenment, Wilson was active in the construction of the presidency's structure, its power, and its manner of selection. He spoke 56 times, calling for
4095-571: The 1700s, accelerating after the Jacobite rising of 1745 , the steady degradation of clan structures, and the Highland Clearances . Even higher rates of emigration occurred after these times of social upheaval. In the 1920s, Scotland experienced a reduction in total population of 0.8%, totally absorbing the natural population increase of 7.2%: the U.S. and Canada were the most common destinations of these emigrants. Despite emphasis on
4212-641: The 1730s. Unlike their Lowland and Ulster counterparts, the Highlanders tended to cluster together in self-contained communities, where they maintained their distinctive cultural features such as the Gaelic language and piobaireachd music. Groups of Highlanders existed in coastal Georgia (mainly immigrants from Inverness-shire) and the Mohawk Valley in New York (from the West Highlands). By far
4329-457: The American colonies was finally regularized by the parliamentary Act of Union of Scotland and England in 1707. Population growth and the commercialization of agriculture in Scotland encouraged mass emigration to America after the French and Indian War , a conflict which had also seen the first use of Scottish Highland regiments as Indian fighters. More than 50,000 Scots, principally from
4446-450: The College of Philadelphia. Wilson experienced financial ruin in the Panic of 1796–1797 and was sent to debtors' prison on two occasions. In August 1798, he suffered a stroke, becoming the first U.S. Supreme Court justice to die. Wilson was born at Carskerdo , near Ceres, Fife , Scotland, on September 14, 1742. He was the fourth of the seven children of Alison Landall and William Wilson,
4563-404: The Constitution. In particular, it focused on the fact that there would be a popularly elected national government for the first time. He distinguished "three simple species of government": monarchy, aristocracy, and "a republic or democracy, where the people at large retain the supreme power, and act either collectively or by representation." During the speech, Wilson also had harsh criticism for
4680-592: The Constitutionalist Party) that limited the partisan feeling that had previously characterized Pennsylvanian politics. After the ratification of the Constitution, Wilson, a learned legal mind, desired to be the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States . President Washington, however, ultimately selected John Jay for that position. Instead, on September 24, 1789, Washington nominated Wilson to be an associate justice of
4797-606: The Fort Wilson riot began. After the British had abandoned Philadelphia, Wilson successfully defended at trial 23 people from property seizure and exile by the radical government of Pennsylvania. A mob whipped up by liquor and the writings and speeches of Joseph Reed , president of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, marched on Congressman Wilson's home at Third and Walnut Streets. Wilson and 35 of his colleagues barricaded themselves in his home, later nicknamed Fort Wilson. In
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4914-520: The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (1588): Thomas Buchanan , said to be the subject of "The Provost" sculpture, in the village centre. However, the sculpture is an amalgam of parts: the upper section is clearly a Toby Jug and therefore cannot pre-date 1760; the word PROVOST has been added by a different hand and appears to be a joke aimed an intemperate provost; the overall frame
5031-566: The Pennsylvania State Militia. As a member of the Continental Congress in 1776, Wilson was a firm advocate for independence. Believing it was his duty to follow the wishes of his constituents, Wilson refused to vote until he had caucused his district. Only after he received more feedback did he vote for independence. While serving in the Congress, Wilson was clearly among the leaders in the formation of French policy. "If
5148-693: The Scots-Irish (or Scotch-Irish) in North America, were descended from people originally from (mainly Lowland) Scotland, as well as the north of England and other regions, who colonized the province of Ulster in Ireland in the seventeenth century. After several generations, their descendants left for America, and struck out for the frontier, in particular the Appalachian mountains, providing an effective "buffer" for attacks from Native Americans. In
5265-475: The Scottish American communities in which they were embedded. Psalm-singing and gospel music have become central musical experiences for African American churchgoers and it has been posited that some elements of these styles were introduced, in these communities, by Scots. Psalm-singing, or " precenting the line " as it is technically known, in which the psalms are called out and the congregation sings
5382-662: The Senate. After the Committee released their proposal, and at Wilson's urging, the contingent election was shifted from the Senate to the House of Representatives. With this alteration, the Electoral College—embodying a "web of compromises" that functioned as a "consensus second choice, made acceptable, in part, by the remarkably complex details of the electoral process"—was accepted by the convention. Wilson believed that
5499-895: The U.S., American statesmen of Scottish descent in the early Republic included Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton , Secretary of War Henry Knox , and President James Monroe . Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk were Scotch-Irish presidents and products of the frontier in the period of Westward expansion . Among the most famous Scottish American soldier frontiersmen was Sam Houston , founding father of Texas . Other Scotch-Irish presidents included James Buchanan , Chester Alan Arthur , William McKinley and Richard M. Nixon , Theodore Roosevelt (through his mother), Woodrow Wilson , Lyndon B. Johnson , and Ronald Reagan were of Scottish descent. By one estimate, 75% of U.S. presidents could claim some Scottish ancestry. Scottish Americans fought on both sides of
5616-559: The United States Supreme Court. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, and was sworn into office on October 5, 1789. Wilson and the other early judges spent most of their time circuit riding , overseeing cases on the circuit courts rather than on the Supreme Court bench. Only nine cases were heard by the court from his appointment in 1789 until his death in 1798. Important among these
5733-488: The United States. American bluegrass and country music styles have some of their roots in the Appalachian ballad culture of Scotch-Irish Americans (predominantly originating from the "Border Ballad" tradition of southern Scotland and northern England). Fiddle tunes from the Scottish repertoire, as they developed in the eighteenth century, spread rapidly into British colonies. However, in many cases, this occurred through
5850-469: The University of Pennsylvania). He petitioned there for a degree and was awarded an honorary Master of Arts several months later. In 1790, the university awarded him the honorary degree of LL.D. While tutoring and teaching, Wilson began to study law in the office of John Dickinson . He attained admission to the bar in Philadelphia in 1767 and established a practice in Reading, Pennsylvania. His office
5967-444: The army with beef and pork in barrels during the War of 1812. The barrels were prominently labeled "U.S." for the United States, but it was jokingly said that the letters stood for "Uncle Sam." Soon, Uncle Sam was used as shorthand for the federal government. Trade with Scotland continued to flourish after U.S. independence. The tobacco trade was overtaken in the nineteenth century by the cotton trade, with Glasgow factories exporting
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#17327906933556084-459: The cemetery which was established by the widow of Robert 9th Lord Lindsay and is called "Lady Boyd's House" as she subsequently married the 6th Lord Boyd of Kilmarnock. However, the vault contains the grave of John Lindsay, 20th Earl of Crawford (1702–1749). Ceres Church is within the Church of Scotland Presbytery of St Andrews . In 1983, the parish of Ceres was linked (and later united) with
6201-402: The central pulpit ), the interior is substantially unaltered from when first built and retains the gallery and original wooden box pews . Within the vestibule of the church a late medieval effigy of a knight which was originally in the ancient church is preserved on a modern stand. It is extremely well preserved and shows interesting details of 15th-century armour. There is a mausoleum in
6318-644: The colonial era, they were usually simply referred to as "Irish," with the "Scots-" or "Scotch-" prefixes becoming popular when the descendants of the Ulster emigrants wanted to differentiate themselves from the Catholic Irish who were flocking to many American cities in the nineteenth century. Unlike the Highlanders and Lowlanders, the Scots-Irish were usually patriots in the Revolution. They have been noted for their tenacity and their cultural contributions to
6435-555: The colonies was 250,888, of whom 223,071 (89%) were white and 3.0% were ethnically Scottish. Population estimates are as follows. The number of Americans of Scottish descent today is estimated to be 20 to 25 million (up to 8.3% of the total U.S. population). The majority of Scotch-Irish Americans originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to the province of Ulster in Ireland (see Plantation of Ulster ) and thence, beginning about five generations later, to North America in large numbers during
6552-557: The colony from Scotland, including prisoners taken in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . By the 1670s Glasgow was the main outlet for Virginian tobacco , in open defiance of English restrictions on colonial trade ; in return the colony received Scottish manufactured goods, emigrants and ideas. In the 1670s and 1680s Presbyterian Dissenters fled persecution by the Royalist privy council in Edinburgh to settle in South Carolina and New Jersey , where they maintained their distinctive religious culture. Trade between Scotland and
6669-484: The composition of the executive to the legislature . Wilson, however, maintained that a single chief executive would provide for greater public accountability than a group and thereby protect against tyranny by making it plain who was responsible for executive actions. He also submitted that a singular chief executive was necessary to ensure promptness and consistency and guard against deadlock, which could be essential in times of national emergency. Wilson's unitary executive
6786-411: The convention. Following the convention, Wilson campaigned for the Constitution's ratification, and his "speech in the statehouse yard" was reprinted in newspapers throughout the country. However, he opposed the Bill of Rights . Wilson also played a major role in drafting the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution . In 1789, Wilson joined the Supreme Court and also was named a professor of law on the faculty at
6903-502: The descendants of emigrants, often Gaelic-speaking, from the Maritime Provinces of Canada , from the 1880s onward. Americans of Scottish descent outnumber the population of Scotland, where 4,459,071 or 88.09% of people identified as ethnic Scottish in the 2001 Census. The states with the largest populations of either Scottish or Scotch Irish ancestral origin: The states with the top percentages of Scottish or Scotch-Irish residents: The metropolitan and micropolitan areas with
7020-421: The direct election of the president through a national popular vote. He believed that a popular election would make the presidency accountable to the people, and he believed more broadly that direct elections would make each branch of government "as independent as possible of each other, as well as of the states". This proposal, however, was received with decidedly mixed opinion, in part because some delegates wanted
7137-451: The early years of Spanish colonization of the Americas , a Scot named Tam Blake spent 20 years in Colombia and Mexico . He took part in the conquest of New Granada in 1532 with Alonso de Heredia . He arrived in Mexico in 1534–5, and joined Coronado 's 1540 expedition to the American Southwest . After the Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, King James VI , a Scot, promoted joint expeditions overseas, and became
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#17327906933557254-432: The eighteenth century. In the 2000 census, 4.8 million Americans self-reported Scottish ancestry, 1.7% of the total U.S. population. Over 4.3 million self-reported Scotch-Irish ancestry, for a total of 9.2 million Americans self-reporting some kind of Scottish descent. Self-reported numbers are regarded by demographers as massive under-counts, because Scottish ancestry is known to be disproportionately under-reported among
7371-556: The few delegates who believed the vote should not be restricted only to property owners) and was one of the few major Founders to articulate a belief in the principle of one man, one vote (that is, the belief that districts should each contain approximately the same number of people so that each person's vote has equal weight), which would not become a feature of American constitutional law until Baker v. Carr (1962). As historian Nicholas Pederson puts it: Wilson, more than any other delegate, consistently advocated placing as much power as
7488-466: The fighting that ensued, six died, and 17 to 19 were wounded. The city's soldiers, the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry and Baylor's 3rd Continental Light Dragoons , eventually intervened and rescued Wilson and his colleagues. The rioters were pardoned and released by Reed. Wilson closely identified with the aristocratic and conservative republican groups, multiplied his business interests, and accelerated his land speculation. He became involved with
7605-427: The finished textiles back to the United States on an industrial scale. Emigration from Scotland peaked in the nineteenth century, when more than a million Scots left for the United States, taking advantage of the regular Atlantic steam-age shipping industry which was itself largely a Scottish creation, contributing to a revolution in transatlantic communication. Scottish emigration to the United States followed, to
7722-441: The first American in orbit, John Glenn , and the first man to fly free in space, Bruce McCandless II , were Scottish Americans. The first men on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin , were also of Scottish descent; Armstrong wore a kilt in a parade through his ancestral home of Langholm in the Scottish Borders in 1972. Armstrong's ancestry can be traced back to his eighth paternal great-grandfather Adam Armstrong from
7839-565: The first automatic sequence computer in 1939. Hopper was also the co-inventor of the computer language COBOL . Ross Perot , another Scottish American entrepreneur, made his fortune from Electronic Data Systems , an outsourcing company he established in 1962. Software giant Microsoft was co-founded in 1975 by Bill Gates , who owed his start in part to his mother, the Scottish American businesswoman Mary Maxwell Gates , who helped her son to get his first software contract with IBM. Glasgow-born Microsoft employee Richard Tait helped develop
7956-684: The first machine capable of flight, the Bell-Langley airplane , in 1903. Lockheed was started by two brothers, Allan and Malcolm Loughead , in 1926. Douglas was founded by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. in 1921; he launched the world's first commercial passenger plane, the DC-3 , in 1935. McDonnell Aircraft was founded by James Smith McDonnell , in 1939, and became famous for its military jets . In 1967, McDonnell and Douglas merged and jointly developed jet aircraft, missiles and spacecraft . Scottish Americans were pioneers in human spaceflight . The Mercury and Gemini capsules were built by McDonnell. The first American in space, Alan Shepard ,
8073-518: The first professor of law at the College of Philadelphia in 1790—only the second at any academic institution in the United States. Wilson mostly ignored the practical matters of legal training; like many of his educated contemporaries, he viewed the academic study of law as a branch of a general cultured education, rather than solely as a prelude to a profession. Wilson broke off his first course of law lectures in April 1791 to attend to his duties as Supreme Court justice on circuit. He appears to have begun
8190-485: The form of Highland games , they are the oldest free games in Scotland. Craighall lies about 3 ⁄ 4 mile (1.2 km) south-east of the village; it was the historic seat of the Clan Hope . The current parish church was built in 1806 to a design by Alexander Leslie , replacing a medieval building. A tower and octagonal spire were added in the 1850s. Apart from the addition of electric lighting and two early 20th-century stained glass windows (either side of
8307-401: The founder of British America . The first permanent English settlement in the Americas, Jamestown , was thus named for a Scot. The earliest Scottish communities in America were formed by traders and planters rather than farmer settlers. The hub of Scottish commercial activity in the colonial period was Virginia . Regular contacts began with the transportation of indentured servants to
8424-511: The frontier. Tobacco plantations and independent farms in the backcountry of Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas had been financed with Scottish credit, and indebtedness was an additional incentive for separation. Most Scottish Americans had commercial ties with the old country or clan allegiances and stayed true to the Crown . The Scottish Highland communities of upstate New York and
8541-481: The issue throughout the convention out of fear of alienating the pro-slavery delegates, whose support was needed to ratify the new constitution, he believed that the thrust of the constitution laid the foundation for "banishing slavery out of this country" and made certain technical objections to clauses like the Fugitive Slave Clause . Ultimately, however, his most substantial contribution on this issue
8658-533: The largest Highland community was centered on the Cape Fear River , which saw a stream of immigrants from Argyllshire, and, later, other regions such as the Isle of Skye . Highland Scots were overwhelmingly loyalist in the Revolution. Distinctly Highland cultural traits persisted in the region until the 19th century, at which point they were assimilated into Anglo-American culture. The Ulster Scots , known as
8775-684: The majority of mixed ancestry, and because areas where people reported "American" ancestry were the places where, historically, Scottish and Scotch-Irish Protestants settled in North America (that is: along the North American coast, Appalachia , and the Southeastern United States ). Scottish Americans descended from nineteenth-century Scottish emigrants tend to be concentrated in the West, while many in New England are
8892-663: The marriage produced a son named Henry, who died at age three. Hannah had previously been the widow of Thomas Bartlett, M.D. In 1774, Wilson published "Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament." In this pamphlet, Wilson argued that the Parliament had no authority to pass laws for the American colonies because the colonies had no representation in Parliament. It presented his views that all power derived from
9009-417: The medium of print rather than aurally, explaining the presence of Highland-origin tunes in regions like Appalachia where there was essentially no Highland settlement. Outside of Gaelic-speaking communities, however, characteristic Highland musical idioms, such as the “Scotch-snap,” were flattened out and assimilated into anglophone musical styles. Some African American communities were influenced musically by
9126-452: The method for selecting the president, the issue was ultimately left to the Committee of Unfinished Parts (also referred to as the Committee of Postponed Parts or the Committee of Eleven), which near the end of the months-long Constitutional Convention was tasked with resolving the remaining unfinished portions of the constitution. It was in this committee that an "eleventh-hour compromise", as Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has described it,
9243-447: The moderate level of class conflict in American society produced a level of sociability and inter-class friendships that could make the presidency the symbolic leader of the entire American people. Wilson did not consider the possibility of bitterly polarized political parties. He saw popular sovereignty as the cement that held America together linking the interests of the people and of the presidential administration. The president should be
9360-484: The name of the Roman ;goddess of agriculture and grain. The name has led to contact with Ceres, Italy (visited by the local pipe band in the 1970s) and Ceres, Western Cape , South Africa (with which gifts were exchanged in the 1990s). The parish of Ceres has some biblical place names: Babylon near Muirhead, south of Craigrothie, and Sodom and Gomorrah (locally pronounced Gemorrie ) and Purgatory on
9477-478: The neighbouring parish of Springfield . This united parish was further united with Kemback in 2005, although the three church buildings are retained. There is a service in Ceres every Sunday at 11.15 am except on Remembrance Sunday (10:45am) and the fifth Sunday of any month, when a united service is held in rotation at Ceres, Kemback or Springfield at 11am. One serving past minister of Ceres has been Moderator of
9594-471: The new Constitution to President Washington and his Cabinet in 1789 and 1790 and continued as a professor of law at Penn until his death in 1798. Born near Leven, Fife , Scotland , Wilson immigrated to Philadelphia in 1766 and became a teacher at the College of Philadelphia. After studying law under John Dickinson , he was admitted to the bar and set up legal practice in Reading, Pennsylvania . He wrote
9711-562: The nineteenth century were Washington Irving , James Fenimore Cooper , Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville . Poet James Mackintosh Kennedy was called to Scotland to deliver the official poem for the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1914. In the twentieth century, Margaret Mitchell 's Gone With the Wind exemplified popular literature. William Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. There have been
9828-431: The object of restraint is clearly ascertained. This is best done, when one object only, distinguished and responsible, is conspicuously held up to the view and examination of the publick [ sic ]. . . . In planning, forming and arranging laws, deliberation is always becoming, and always useful. But in the active scenes of government, there are emergencies, in which the man, as, in other cases, the women [sic] , who deliberates
9945-544: The onset of the Panic of 1796–1797 . Of note was the failure in Pennsylvania with Theophilus Cazenove . In debt, Wilson was briefly imprisoned in a debtors' prison in Burlington, New Jersey . His son paid the debt, but Wilson went to North Carolina to escape other creditors. He was again briefly imprisoned but continued his duties on the Federal judicial circuit. In 1798, he suffered a bout of malaria and then died of
10062-443: The others at the convention as political theorists, and they were two of the closest allies in both the convention debates and ratification effort afterward. Though not in agreement with all parts of the final, necessarily compromised Constitution, Wilson stumped hard for its adoption, leading Pennsylvania, at its ratifying convention, to become the second state (behind Delaware) to accept the document. His October 6, 1787, "speech in
10179-408: The people. Yet, he wrote that the people owed their allegiance to the British king: "A denial of the legislative authority of the British parliament over America is by no means inconsistent with that connexion, which ought to subsist between the mother country and her colonies." Scholars considered his work on par with the seminal works of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams of the same year. However, it
10296-476: The positions he held and the frequency with which he appeared on committees concerned with Indian affairs are an index, he was until his departure from Congress in 1777 the most active and influential single delegate in laying down the general outline that governed the relations of Congress with the border tribes." Wilson also served from June 1776 on the Committee on Spies, along with Adams, Jefferson, John Rutledge , and Robert R. Livingston . On October 4, 1779,
10413-491: The power of Congress to levy taxes, and Ware v. Hylton (1796), which held that treaties take precedence over state law under the U.S. Constitution. Wilson concurred with the majority on both rulings. During Wilson's last two years on the court, he largely abdicated his role on the Supreme Court bench and rode circuit in the South to avoid creditors. He served on the Supreme Court until his death on August 21, 1798. Wilson became
10530-435: The president on their behalf. But this, too, was initially greeted unenthusiastically. The proposal that at first received the greatest traction was one that Wilson disliked: selection by the legislature (Wilson had tried to accommodate the desires of these "congressionalists" in his electoral college proposal by including a contingent election, which would hand the selection of the president to Congress if no candidate received
10647-501: The president to be popularly elected. Along with Madison, he was perhaps the best versed of the framers in the study of political economy. He understood clearly the central problem of dual sovereignty (nation and state) and held a vision of an almost limitless future for the United States. A witness to Wilson's performance during the convention, Dr. Benjamin Rush , called Wilson's mind "one blaze of light." Madison and Wilson far outdistanced
10764-469: The principles of Adam Smith and Thomas Reid , of individual interest governed by common sense and a limited need for government." John Witherspoon and James Wilson were the two Scots to sign the Declaration of Independence, and several other signers had ancestors there. Other Founding Father like James Madison had no ancestral connection but were imbued with ideas drawn from Scottish moral philosophy. Scottish Americans who made major contributions to
10881-634: The proposed Bill of Rights . Powers over assembly , the press , search and seizure , and others covered in the Bill of Rights were, according to Wilson, not granted in the Enumerated powers so therefore were unnecessary amendments. Wilson was later instrumental in the redrafting of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 , leading the group in favor of a new constitution, and entering into an agreement with William Findley (leader of
10998-648: The revolutionary war included Commodore John Paul Jones , the "Father of the American Navy", and Generals Henry Knox and William Alexander . Another person of note was a personal friend of George Washington, General Hugh Mercer , who fought for Charles Edward Stuart at the Battle of Culloden . The Scotch-Irish, who had already begun to settle beyond the Proclamation Line in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys , were drawn into rebellion as war spread to
11115-519: The road to Pitscottie . There are now no dwellings at these locations. On the other hand, there is a place called Paradise , which now habited, just over the boundary in Cults parish. The Ceres Games are said to have been held every year since 1314 after Robert the Bruce granted the village permission to hold them in commemoration of its men's participation in the Battle of Bannockburn . Now staged in
11232-515: The selection of the president to be insulated from the popular will and in part because it would not count southern states' slave populations towards their voting power (which had been the major concern leading to the infamous Three-fifths Compromise). In an attempt to accommodate these objections, Wilson proposed selection by an electoral college, which would divide the states into districts in number proportional to their population, from which voters would choose electors who would in turn cast ballots for
11349-483: The slave states' representation in the Electoral College above their voting populations). Each state's legislature would decide upon the manner in which that state's electors would be chosen, and the electors would cast votes for the presidency. In the case that no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, a contingent election would be triggered, handing the selection of the president to
11466-634: The society. Wilson's religious beliefs evolved throughout his life and have been the subject of some dispute, as there are writings from various points of his life from which it can be argued that he leaned towards Presbyterianism , Anglicanism , Thomism , or Deism , although it has been deemed likely that he eventually favored some form of Christianity. On November 5, 1771, he married Rachel Bird, daughter of William Bird and Bridget Hulings; they had six children together: Mary, William, Bird, James, Emily, and Charles. Rachel died in 1786, and in 1793 he married Hannah Gray, daughter of Ellis Gray and Sarah D'Olbear;
11583-519: The sons of William C Davidson (1846–1923) who was born and grew up in Angus, Scotland , and Margaret Adams McFarlane (1843–1933) of Scottish descent from the small Scottish settlement of Cambridge, Wisconsin . They raised five children together: Janet May, William A., Walter , Arthur and Elizabeth. Scottish Americans have made a major contribution to the U.S. aircraft industry . Alexander Graham Bell , in partnership with Samuel Pierpont Langley , built
11700-409: The statehouse yard" (delivered in the courtyard behind Independence Hall ) has been seen as particularly important in setting the terms of the ratification debate, both locally and nationally. During the debates, it was more influential than The Federalist Papers . It was printed in newspapers, and copies of the speech were distributed by George Washington to generate support for the ratification of
11817-456: The struggles and 'forced exile' of Jacobites and Highland clansmen in popular media, Scottish migration was mostly from the Lowland regions and its pressures included poverty and land clearance but also the variety of positive economic opportunities believed to be available. The table shows the ethnic Scottish population in the British colonies from 1700 to 1775. In 1700 the total population of
11934-512: The time is elapsed; when the business is finished; when the state is in distress, perhaps on the verge of destruction; on whom shall we fix the blame? Whom shall we select as the object of punishment? One of the issues that most divided the convention was the method of selecting the president, with Wilson observing that the issue had "greatly divided" the Convention and was "in truth the most difficult". For his part, Wilson forthrightly supported
12051-620: The top percentage of Scottish or Scotch-Irish residents: As of 2020, the distribution of Scottish Americans across the 50 states and DC is as presented in the following table. The first Scots in North America came with the Vikings . A Christian bard from the Hebrides accompanied Bjarni Herjolfsson on his voyage around Greenland in 985/6 which sighted the mainland to the west. The first Scots recorded as having set foot in
12168-433: The war, Wilson took a position as advocate general for France in America (1779–1783), dealing with commercial and maritime matters, and legally defended Loyalists and their sympathizers. He held this post until his death in 1798. We now see the circle of government, beautiful and complete. By the people, its springs are put in motion originally: By the people, its administration is consummated: At first; at last; their power
12285-597: The west coast, settled in the Thirteen Colonies between 1763 and 1776, the majority of these in their own communities in the South , especially North Carolina , although Scottish individuals and families also began to appear as professionals and artisans in every American town. Scots arriving in Florida and the Gulf Coast traded extensively with Native Americans . Highland Scots started arriving in North America in
12402-421: The word "We" as first word of the constitution leading to the now famous phrase "We the people...." On economics, Wilson wished the Constitution to make clear that the federal government (like the state governments) had no power to make anything other than gold or silver a tender in payment of debts, formally forbidding the federal government from issuing paper money. Wilson has been variously called by scholars
12519-520: The world speed record in 1900. In 1903, he became the first man to drive across the United States. David Dunbar Buick , another Scottish emigrant, founded Buick in 1903. The Scottish-born William Blackie transformed the Caterpillar Tractor Company into a multinational corporation. Harley-Davidson Inc (formerly HDI ), often abbreviated "H-D" or "Harley", is an American motorcycle manufacturer. The Davidson brothers were
12636-492: Was Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), which granted federal courts the affirmative power to hear disputes between private citizens and states. This ruling was superseded by the Eleventh Amendment , which conflicted with Wilson's view that states did not enjoy sovereign immunity from suits made by citizens of other states in federal court. Two other important cases were Hylton v. United States (1796), which clarified
12753-484: Was a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where he was a member of the Committee of Detail which produced the first draft of the Constitution. He was the principal architect of the executive branch of the federal government and was an outspoken supporter of greater participatory democracy , a strong national government, and proportional legislative representation based on population. Along with Roger Sherman and Charles Pinckney , he proposed
12870-424: Was actually penned in 1768, perhaps the first cogent argument to be formulated against the authority of the Crown . Some scholars see Wilson as a leading revolutionary while others see him as a reluctant, elite revolutionary reacting to the stream of events determined by the radicals on the ground. In 1775, he was commissioned colonel of the 4th Cumberland County Battalion and rose to the rank of brigadier general of
12987-557: Was common all over Protestant Britain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and that it is far more likely that Gospel music originated with English psalm singing. The first foreign tongue spoken by some slaves in America was Scottish Gaelic picked up from Gaelic-speaking immigrants from the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles. There are accounts of African Americans singing Gaelic songs and playing Scottish Gaelic music on bagpipes and fiddle. The civic tradition of
13104-456: Was feasible with the people themselves—giving them as direct control as was possible over operation of the federal government's machinery...Wilson alone, who wielded formidable intellect on behalf of democracy throughout the Convention, is a major part of the reason why the Constitution ended up as democratic a document as it did. Despite owning a household slave himself, in rhetoric he argued against slavery . While he remained relatively quiet on
13221-428: Was his proposal of the Three-fifths Compromise , which would count three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population for the purposes of representation in the House of Representatives. As the Convention proceeded, he would come to disavow the compromise; nevertheless, it was accepted into the new constitution, becoming one of its most infamous clauses. Wilson has been credited with adding
13338-513: Was one of the first four Associate Justices appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington . In his capacity as the first professor of law at the College of Philadelphia (a year after he was appointed as a professor at the College of Philadelphia, the college merged with University of the State of Pennsylvania to become the University of Pennsylvania ), he taught the first course on
13455-486: Was struck, which settled on the use of an electoral college very similar to the one Wilson had earlier proposed. The committee constructed a complex structure that, with few alterations, would become the Electoral College . In this system, each state would be awarded a number of electors equal to its number of House Representatives and Senators (this encoded within it the Three-fifths Compromise, boosting
13572-420: Was ultimately adopted by the convention. The executive as well as the legislative power ought to be restrained. . . . The restraints on the legislative authority, must from its nature, be chiefly internal; that is, they must proceed from some part or division of itself. But the restraints on the executive power are external. These restraints are applied with the greatest certainty, and with greatest efficacy, when
13689-494: Was very successful, and he earned a small fortune in a few years. By then he had a small farm near Carlisle, Pennsylvania , was handling cases in eight local counties, became a founding trustee of Dickinson College , and was lecturing at The academy and College of Philadelphia. In 1768 he was elected to membership of the American Philosophical Society , and from 1781 to 1783 he was the vice president of
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