James Anderson was born on July 23, 1878 at Fairbank, Ontario. He was educated at the University of Manitoba where he received his LL.B. in 1913 and M.A. in 1914. He taught school at Richard’s Landing, Ontario from 1897 - 1903 and for the next four years he taught at schools in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He was Inspector of schools for the Province of Saskatchewan from 1911 to 1918.

In 1918 he was appointed as the Director of Education among new Canadians in Saskatchewan and that same year saw him publish a book, "The Education of the New Canadian". In 1924 he was elected as the leader of the Saskatchewan Conservative Party and the next year he was elected to the Legislature. His party was victorious in the provincial election of 1929 and in September of that year Anderson became Premier of Saskatchewan.