As we continue to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Professor William Ewald of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School will join us on Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 12:40 PM to speak with our congregation members about First Church member and Founding Father, James Wilson.

James Wilson was well ahead of his peers in understanding the importance of human equality in the American Revolution. Wilson intended to draw an explicit link among the Declaration, human equality and the Constitution, which no other delegate did during any ratification debates. During the Pennsylvania debates over whether or not to ratify the Constitution, Wilson quoted the entire second sentence of the Declaration of Independence and added, “[T]his is the broad basis on which our independence was placed; on the same certain and solid foundation this system [of the US Constitution] is erected.”