Wilson was born in Essex County, New Jersey, where he attended the common schools. He was editor and publisher of the True American of Trenton, New Jersey 1801–1824; clerk in the New Jersey General Assembly in 1804; judge advocate and captain, Hunterdon Brigade, New Jersey Militia, in 1806; surrogate of Hunterdon County, New Jersey in 1808; member of the General Assembly 1809–1811; brigadier general and Adjutant General of New Jersey from 1810–1812, and reappointed in 1814; captain in the Third Regiment, Hunterdon Brigade 1814; captain in the New Jersey Militia 1814; brigadier general and Quartermaster General of New Jersey from 1821 to 1824.

Wilson was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1815, to January 8, 1821, when he resigned; was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Fourteenth and Fifteenth Congresses), Committee on Claims (Sixteenth Congress); appointed Postmaster of Trenton, New Jersey, in 1821 and served until his death in that city; interment in the First Baptist Church Cemetery, Trenton.

• Wilson, James Jefferson, comp. A National Song-Book, Being a Collection of Patriotic, Martial, and Naval Songs and Odes. Trenton, N.J.: James J. Wilson, 1813.

• United States Congress. "James Jefferson Wilson (id: W000595)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• James Jefferson Wilson at The Political Graveyard