Decorum and Secrecy at the Convention: James Wilson’s Wordless Marginalia
James Wilson’s Morse code-like diagrams were the result of two Convention rules – no reading while other members were speaking, and a strict rule of secrecy.
With quill in hand, Wilson could endure long speeches, furtively consult Blackstone, and slowly crystallize his concepts into formative dash-and-dot focal point diagrams for his many speeches. Simultaneously, Wilson was veiling his plan of government, guarding against any disclosure to opposition press, outside foreign agents, or informants.
Most importantly, Wilson was compiling visual components of the new Constitution, foreshadowing his work as the Constitution’s primary draftsman. Constitution clauses embodied in these images include the Preamble (We the People), the New State Admissions Clause, the House Election Clause, the Emoluments Clauses, the Apportionment Clauses – virtually, the entire fundamental structure of the Constitution.
This copy of An Analysis of the Laws of England, essentially, was James Wilson’s palette, on which the framework of the Constitution was first drawn.
On an even broader scale, this book documents a major turning point in history — when the new American jurisprudence was drawn directly over the Blackstonian old world order.