Common Sense Nation. Robert Curry

and the other luminaries of the Scottish Enlightenment were his patients and friends. A cousin of Thomas Reid became one of Rush’s closest friends. Rush had, quite characteristically for him, landed in the center of the action.

      Rush had an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of John Witherspoon’s role in the Founding—and Rush, while studying in Scotland, played a key role in persuading Witherspoon to accept the invitation to become the president of Princeton and also in overcoming Mrs. Witherspoon’s resolute opposition to moving to America.

      It is equally difficult to overestimate the importance of Tom Paine’s Common Sense. Common Sense was read by virtually every American who could read, and read aloud to those who could not. It had a decisive influence on American public sentiment in favor of the Revolution. In it Paine elevated the idea of common sense thinking in America while at the same time subjecting monarchy and especially hereditary monarchy to a devastating critique:

      “One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in Kings, is that nature disproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule, by giving mankind an Ass for a Lion.” [Italics in original]

      After Rush returned to America, he urged Paine to write Common Sense, supplied Paine with many of the ideas and even convinced Paine to use that title.

      Rush seemed always to be where the action was, even when it came to the effort of getting the Constitution approved. At first, the prospects for approval looked dim. As the struggle played out, the battle in Pennsylvania became critical. Pennsylvania’s eventual vote for approval helped to turn the tide. How did that vote come about? Much credit goes to Rush. With James Wilson playing the lead, together they conducted the very effective campaign that made the difference in Pennsylvania.

      Rush was what today we would call a networker. He knew everybody, and everybody knew him. What is remarkable about his network is the story it tells about the Founding. Rush’s network of contacts is a who’s who of the Scottish Enlightenment and of the American Founding. Before leaving this page, ponder for just a moment the fact that Rush’s network included Adam Smith and David Hume, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.

      THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AS DRAMA

       “After Madison, [James] Wilson’s was the most important hand in shaping the Constitution . . .”

      —PAUL JOHNSON, A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

      Remarkably, the actual course of events during the Constitutional Convention, as if by dramatic intent, seems designed to draw our attention to the enormous importance of the Scottish Enlightenment in America’s Founding.

      If we consider the Constitutional Convention as a dramatic work, James Madison and James Wilson got the roles that drove the action. Madison opened with the Virginia Plan; Wilson played a central role in the debate and in the final decisive action, the drafting of the Constitution by the committee that gave it the shape we know today.

      Their central roles dramatize the impact of the Scottish Enlightenment because Madison and Wilson taken together perfectly symbolize that impact.

      Madison symbolizes one half of the story of the Scots in America. He represents the Revolutionary generation of Americans trained by the wave of Scots who brought the Scottish Enlightenment to America. As we have seen, Madison’s tutor, Donald Robertson, was a product of the Scottish Enlightenment at its peak, and Madison’s mentor was the Scottish educator John Witherspoon. Madison was steeped in the Scottish tradition. His education was so strongly Scottish in its character that until the end of his life he spoke French with a marked Scottish accent.

      As for Wilson, he is a perfect symbol for the other half of the story. He was actually a part of that wave of Scots in America. A member in good standing of the Scottish Enlightenment, he was educated at St. Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh at the height of the Scottish Enlightenment. On stage, in our Constitutional-Convention-as-drama, we would be constantly reminded of the Scottish influence by Wilson’s strong Scottish accent.

      It is important to remember that Wilson was not a second-tier figure. Wilson is only slightly outside the small circle of the Founders we all know. His contemporaries would be surprised to learn that he is not better remembered today. He was a member of that most select group of the Founders; he was one of only six men who signed both the Declaration and the Constitution. Washington appointed him to the very first Supreme Court, making him a member of yet another very select group among the Founders. So great was Wilson’s standing at the time that many Americans expected, and it was rumored in the press, that Washington would select him to be America’s first Chief Justice. In the event, Washington selected John Jay instead and that is perhaps the reason Wilson’s name eventually fell from the list of the Founders everyone knows.

      For our Constitutional-Convention-as-drama, the main point is that these two characters who symbolize the story of the Scottish Enlightenment in America drive the action. In addition, our production includes two dramatic devices that brilliantly highlight the significance of Madison and Wilson.

      First, they are elevated by being closely associated with the two most esteemed men in the room—George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Everyone in the room knew that Madison spoke for Washington; he was even seated to Washington’s right and beside the dais from which Washington presided. In much the same way, Wilson was paired with Franklin. This was also clear to everyone in the room. Wilson read Franklin’s prepared statements for him. To appreciate the dramatic power of these pairings, we only need to keep in mind just how much Washington and Franklin were the very symbols of America. Washington, “the Father of the Country,” and Franklin, “the First American,” were for Americans of that time their country’s two iconic figures.

      In addition, the dramatic impact of Madison and Wilson’s pairing with Washington and Franklin is greatly enhanced by the comparative silence of the two icons. Washington rarely spoke, confining himself to the role of president of the Convention. Except for the prepared statements Wilson read for him, Franklin also limited his remarks to a few critical moments when his enormous prestige was needed to make a way forward. Their brilliant junior associates conducted the campaign. Madison and Wilson, our symbols of the Scottish Enlightenment’s impact on America, are given center stage.

      Considered purely as drama, pairing Wilson the Scot and Madison the Scottish-educated American with the two great icons of America, and giving Wilson and Madison their key roles in the debate seems designed, as if by Providence, to send us today a potent reminder of the importance of the Scottish Enlightenment to the American Enlightenment and, therefore, to America’s Founding.

      THE FOUNDERS’ TRADITION

       “We have had to the present day two different traditions in the theory of liberty . . . [one] was made explicit mainly by a group of Scottish moral philosophers . . . Opposed to them was the tradition of the French Enlightenment.”

      —F. A. HAYEK, THE CONSTITUTION OF LIBERTY

      Hayek’s point is important because it highlights the decisive influence of the Scottish Enlightenment on the Founders’ thinking on liberty. The Founders were steeped in the Scottish tradition. As Daniel Walker Howe put it, “the Scots spread a rich intellectual table from which the Americans could pick and choose and feast.”

      The Scottish Enlightenment was made up of men who delighted in vigorous debate. And yet, as Samuel Fleischacker has written in his outstanding essay “Scottish Philosophy and the American Founding”:

      “The Scots did tend to share some general views—on the sociability of human nature, on the importance of history to moral philosophy and social science, on the dignity and intelligence of ordinary people—that were of great importance to their followers in America and elsewhere.”

      Those shared general views informed the American