The Federalist

The Federalist, more commonly known as The Federalist Papers, is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in 1787 and 1788. The essays were originally published anonymously, under the pseudonym Publius, in several newspapers in New York. The Federalist Papers were written and published to urge Americans to ratify the newly proposed United States Constitution, which had been drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. In lobbying for the adoption of the Constitution over the existing Articles of Confederation, Hamilton and his co-contributors explained each specific provision of the Constitution in detail. For this reason, and because Hamilton and Madison were both members of the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist Papers are often cited today to help interpret the intentions of those who drafted the Constitution. Because of its original anonymous publication, the assignment of authorship, along with the numbering and exact wording of the text may vary with different editions of The Federalist. The text of The Federalist compiled here draws on several available versions to present the modern reader with the most complete and authentic version available.