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Event
"The Man Who Wrote 'We the People' - and Inspired the Declaration" with Dr. John Mikhail
Date & Time
Fri, Apr 24, 2026 • 5:00 pm
Organization
JWI
Venue
Hillsdale College Washington, DC Campus, 227 Massachusetts Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002
Lecture Details
Following our reception at 5pm, Dr. John Mikhail will offer a lecture on JWI's namesake in honor of the 250th anniversary of American independence: James Wilson is the only founder to sign both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. He wrote the first complete draft of the Constitution and, in that capacity, he crafted many of its most significant clauses and phrases, including the Vesting Clauses, the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Supremacy Clause, and the majestic opening words of the Preamble: "We the People." One of the best legal minds of his generation, Wilson has also been called the "most democratic" founder because of his support for popular sovereignty and the principle of one person, one vote. While all this is well-known, Wilson's role in inspiring the Declaration of Independence is less familiar. This lecture will outline that influence, explaining how Wilson's novel synthesis of natural law and aspects of the British Constitution helped pave the way for the theories of natural rights, government by consent, and national identity presupposed by the Declaration of Independence.
Meet Dr. John Mikhail
John Mikhail is the Carroll Professor of Jurisprudence at Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught since 2004. He teaches and writes on a variety of topics, including constitutional law, moral psychology, moral and legal theory, cognitive science, legal history, criminal law, torts, international law, and human rights.
Professor Mikhail has lectured extensively throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He delivered a Green College Lecture at the University of British Columbia in 2012, the Rousseau Lectures at the University of Zurich in 2017, the Seegers Lecture at Valparaiso University in 2018, and a Plenary Lecture at the IVR World Congress in 2019. He has been an invited speaker at annual meetings of the American Association of Law Schools, American Constitution Society, American Philosophical Association, American Society for Legal History, International Association for Computing and Philosophy, International Conference on Thinking, Modern Language Association, Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and The Federalist Society. Among other engagements, he also has given invited lectures at Al-Quds University, Center for Advanced Studies LMU (Munich), Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Indian Institute for Advanced Study (Shimla), Jessup Correctional Institution, MIT Technology and Culture Forum, National Institutes of Health, Princeton University Center for Human Values, Sante Fe Institute, and Yale University Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics.
Professor Mikhail received his B.A. from Amherst College, studying under our Founder and Co-Director Prof. Hadley Arkes. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University, and his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was Senior Article Editor of the Stanford Law Review and Senior Submissions Editor of the Stanford Journal of International Law. Before coming to Georgetown, he was a Lecturer and Research Affiliate in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, an associate at Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, and a judicial clerk to Judge Rosemary Barkett on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Professor Mikhail served as Associate Dean for Research and Academic Programs from 2017 to 2020 and Associate Dean for International and Transnational Programs from 2011 to 2013. He holds secondary appointments in Georgetown’s Philosophy Department and Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science.
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