document_title: The Federalist Papers

question_text: who was the primary author of the federalist papers written 51 of the 85 articles

text: The Federalist Papers

text: History[edit]

text: Origins[edit]

text: The Federal Convention sent the proposed Constitution to the Confederation Congress, which in turn submitted it to the states for ratification at the end of September 1787. On September 27, 1787, "Cato" first appeared in the New York press criticizing the proposition; "Brutus" followed on October 18, 1787.[7] These and other articles and public letters critical of the new Constitution would eventually become known as the "Anti-Federalist Papers". In response, Alexander Hamilton decided to launch a measured defense and extensive explanation of the proposed Constitution to the people of the state of New York. He wrote in Federalist No. 1 that the series would "endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention."[8]

text: Hamilton recruited collaborators for the project. He enlisted John Jay, who after four strong essays (Federalist Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5), fell ill and contributed only one more essay, Federalist No. 64, to the series. He also distilled his case into a pamphlet in the spring of 1788, An Address to the People of the State of New-York;  Hamilton cited it approvingly in Federalist No. 85. James Madison, present in New York as a Virginia delegate to the Confederation Congress, was recruited by Hamilton and Jay, and became Hamilton's major collaborator. Gouverneur Morris and William Duer were also apparently considered; Morris turned down the invitation, and Hamilton rejected three essays written by Duer.[9] Duer later wrote in support of the three Federalist authors under the name "Philo-Publius", or "Friend of Publius".

text: Hamilton chose "Publius" as the pseudonym under which the series would be written. While many other pieces representing both sides of the constitutional debate were written under Roman names, Albert Furtwangler contends that "'Publius' was a cut above 'Caesar' or 'Brutus' or even 'Cato.' Publius Valerius was not a late defender of the republic but one of its founders. His more famous name, Publicola, meant 'friend of the people.'"[10] It was not the first time Hamilton had used this pseudonym: in 1778, he had applied it to three letters attacking fellow Federalist Samuel Chase. Chase's patriotism was questioned when Hamilton revealed that Chase had taken advantage of knowledge gained in Congress to try to dominate the flour market.

text: Authorship[edit]

text: At the time of publication the authorship of the articles was a closely guarded secret, though astute observers discerned the identities of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. Following Hamilton's death in 1804, a list that he had drafted claiming fully two-thirds of the papers for himself became public, including some that seemed more likely the work of Madison (No. 49–58 and 62–63).  The scholarly detective work of Douglass Adair in 1944 postulated the following assignments of authorship, corroborated in 1964 by a computer analysis of the text:

text:
Alexander Hamilton (51 articles: No. 1, 6–9, 11–13, 15–17, 21–36, 59–61, and 65–85)
James Madison (29 articles: No. 10, 14, 18–20,[11] 37–58 and 62–63)
John Jay (5 articles: No. 2–5 and 64).

text: A total of 85 articles were written by the three men in a span of ten months under the pseudonym "Publius" because it recalled the founder of the Roman Republic, and using it implied a positive intention.[10] Madison is now acknowledged as the father of the Constitution—despite his repeated rejection of this honor during his lifetime.[12] Madison became a leading member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia (1789–1797), Secretary of State (1801–1809), and ultimately the fourth President of the United States.[13] Hamilton, who had been a leading advocate of national constitutional reform throughout the 1780s and represented New York at the Constitutional Convention, in 1789 became the first Secretary of the Treasury, a post he held until his resignation in 1795. John Jay, who had been secretary for foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation from 1784 through their expiration in 1789, became the first Chief Justice of the United States in 1789, stepping down in 1795 to accept election as governor of New York, a post he held for two terms, retiring in 1801.

text: Publication[edit]

text: The Federalist articles appeared in three New York newspapers: The Independent Journal, the New-York Packet, and the Daily Advertiser, beginning on October 27, 1787. Although written and published with haste, The Federalist articles were widely read and greatly influenced the shape of American political institutions.[14] Between them, Hamilton, Madison and Jay kept up a rapid pace, with at times three or four new essays by Publius appearing in the papers in a week. Garry Wills observes that the pace of production "overwhelmed" any possible response: "Who, given ample time could have answered such a battery of arguments? And no time was given."[15] Hamilton also encouraged the reprinting of the essay in newspapers outside New York state, and indeed they were published in several other states where the ratification debate was taking place. However, they were only irregularly published outside New York, and in other parts of the country they were often overshadowed by local writers.[16]

text: Because the essays were initially published in New York, most of them begin with the same salutation: "To the People of the State of New York".

text: The high demand for the essays led to their publication in a more permanent form. On January 1, 1788, the New York publishing firm J. & A. McLean announced that they would publish the first thirty-six essays as a bound volume; that volume was released on March 22, 1788 and was titled The Federalist Volume 1.[1] New essays continued to appear in the newspapers; Federalist No. 77 was the last number to appear first in that form, on April 2. A second bound volume containing Federalist 37–77 and the yet to be published Federalist 78–85 was released on May 28.[1] The last eight papers (Federalist 78–85) were republished in the New York newspapers between June 14 and August 16, 1788.[1][17]

text: A 1792 French edition ended the collective anonymity of Publius, announcing that the work had been written by "MM Hamilton, Maddisson E Gay", citizens of the State of New York. In 1802, George Hopkins published an American edition that similarly named the authors. Hopkins wished as well that "the name of the writer should be prefixed to each number," but at this point Hamilton insisted that this was not to be, and the division of the essays among the three authors remained a secret.[18]

text: The first publication to divide the papers in such a way was an 1810 edition that used a list left by Hamilton to associate the authors with their numbers; this edition appeared as two volumes of the compiled "Works of Hamilton". In 1818, Jacob Gideon published a new edition with a new listing of authors, based on a list provided by Madison. The difference between Hamilton's list and Madison's formed the basis for a dispute over the authorship of a dozen of the essays.[19]

text: Both Hopkins's and Gideon's editions incorporated significant edits to the text of the papers themselves, generally with the approval of the authors.  In 1863, Henry Dawson published an edition containing the original text of the papers, arguing that they should be preserved as they were written in that particular historical moment, not as edited by the authors years later.[20]

text: Modern scholars generally use the text prepared by Jacob E. Cooke for his 1961 edition of The Federalist; this edition used the newspaper texts for essay numbers 1–76 and the McLean edition for essay numbers 77–85.[21]

text: Disputed essays[edit]

text: The authorship of seventy-three of The Federalist essays is fairly certain. Twelve of these essays are disputed over by some scholars, though the modern consensus is that Madison wrote essays Nos. 49–58, with Nos. 18–20 being products of a collaboration between him and Hamilton; No. 64 was by John Jay. The first open designation of which essay belonged to whom was provided by Hamilton who, in the days before his ultimately fatal gun duel with Aaron Burr, provided his lawyer with a list detailing the author of each number. This list credited Hamilton with a full sixty-three of the essays (three of those being jointly written with Madison), almost three-quarters of the whole, and was used as the basis for an 1810 printing that was the first to make specific attribution for the essays.[22]

text: Madison did not immediately dispute Hamilton's list, but provided his own list for the 1818 Gideon edition of The Federalist. Madison claimed twenty-nine numbers for himself, and he suggested that the difference between the two lists was "owing doubtless to the hurry in which [Hamilton's] memorandum was made out." A known error in Hamilton's list—Hamilton incorrectly ascribed No. 54 to John Jay, when in fact, Jay wrote No. 64—provided some evidence for Madison's suggestion.[23]

text: Statistical analysis has been undertaken on several occasions to try to ascertain the authorship question based on word frequencies and writing styles. Nearly all of the statistical studies show that the disputed papers were written by Madison, although a computer science study theorizes the papers were a collaborative effort.[24][25][26]

text: Influence on the ratification debates[edit]

text: The Federalist Papers were written to support the ratification of the Constitution, specifically in New York. Whether they succeeded in this mission is questionable. Separate ratification proceedings took place in each state, and the essays were not reliably reprinted outside of New York; furthermore, by the time the series was well underway, a number of important states had already ratified it, for instance Pennsylvania on December 12. New York held out until July 26; certainly The Federalist was more important there than anywhere else, but Furtwangler argues that it "could hardly rival other major forces in the ratification contests"—specifically, these forces included the personal influence of well-known Federalists, for instance Hamilton and Jay, and Anti-Federalists, including Governor George Clinton.[27] Further, by the time New York came to a vote, ten states had already ratified the Constitution and it had thus already passed—only nine states had to ratify it for the new government to be established among them; the ratification by Virginia, the tenth state, placed pressure on New York to ratify. In light of that, Furtwangler observes, "New York's refusal would make that state an odd outsider."[28]

text: Only 19 Federalists were elected to New York's ratification convention, compared to the Anti-Federalists' 46 delegates. While New York did indeed ratify the Constitution on July 26, the lack of public support for pro-Constitution Federalists has led historian John Kaminski to suggest that the impact of The Federalist on New York citizens was "negligible".[29]

text: As for Virginia, which only ratified the Constitution at its convention on June 25, Hamilton writes in a letter to Madison that the collected edition of The Federalist had been sent to Virginia; Furtwangler presumes that it was to act as a "debater's handbook for the convention there," though he claims that this indirect influence would be a "dubious distinction."[30] Probably of greater importance to the Virginia debate, in any case, were George Washington's support for the proposed Constitution and the presence of Madison and Edmund Randolph, the governor, at the convention arguing for ratification.

text: Structure and content[edit]

text: In Federalist No. 1, Hamilton listed six topics to be covered in the subsequent articles:

text:
"The utility of the UNION to your political prosperity" – covered in No. 2 through No. 14
"The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union" –covered in No. 15 through No. 22
"The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed to the attainment of this object" – covered in No. 23 through No. 36
"The conformity of the proposed constitution to the true principles of republican government" – covered in No. 37 through No. 84
"Its analogy to your own state constitution" – covered in No. 85
"The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty and to prosperity" – covered in No. 85.[31]

tag: ol

text: Furtwangler notes that as the series grew, this plan was somewhat changed. The fourth topic expanded into detailed coverage of the individual articles of the Constitution and the institutions it mandated, while the two last topics were merely touched on in the last essay.

text: The papers can be broken down by author as well as by topic. At the start of the series, all three authors were contributing; the first twenty papers are broken down as eleven by Hamilton, five by Madison and four by Jay. The rest of the series, however, is dominated by three long segments by a single writer: No. 21 through No. 36 by Hamilton, No. 37 through 58 by Madison, written while Hamilton was in Albany, and No. 65 through the end by Hamilton, published after Madison had left for Virginia.[32]

text: Opposition to the Bill of Rights[edit]

text: The Federalist Papers (specifically Federalist No. 84) are notable for their opposition to what later became the United States Bill of Rights. The idea of adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution was originally controversial because the Constitution, as written, did not specifically enumerate or protect the rights of the people, rather it listed the powers of the government and left all that remained to the states and the people. Alexander Hamilton, the author of Federalist No. 84, feared that such an enumeration, once written down explicitly, would later be interpreted as a list of the only rights that people had[citation needed].

text: However, Hamilton's opposition to a Bill of Rights was far from universal. Robert Yates, writing under the pseudonym Brutus, articulated this view point in the so-called Anti-Federalist No. 84, asserting that a government unrestrained by such a bill could easily devolve into tyranny. References in The Federalist and in the ratification debates warn of demagogues of the variety who through divisive appeals would aim at tyranny. The Federalist begins and ends with this issue.[33] In the final paper Hamilton offers "a lesson of moderation to all sincere lovers of the Union, and  ought to put them on their guard against hazarding anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the States from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of a successful demagogue".[34] The matter was further clarified by the Ninth Amendment.

text: Judicial use[edit]

text: Federal judges, when interpreting the Constitution, frequently use The Federalist Papers as a contemporary account of the intentions of the framers and ratifiers.[35] They have been applied on issues ranging from the power of the federal government in foreign affairs (in Hines v. Davidowitz) to the validity of ex post facto laws (in the 1798 decision Calder v. Bull, apparently the first decision to mention The Federalist).[36] By 2000[update], The Federalist had been quoted 291 times in Supreme Court decisions.[37]

text:
The amount of deference that should be given to The Federalist Papers in constitutional interpretation has always been somewhat controversial. As early as 1819, Chief Justice John Marshall noted in the famous case McCulloch v. Maryland, that "the opinions expressed by the authors of that work have been justly supposed to be entitled to great respect in expounding the Constitution. No tribute can be paid to them which exceeds their merit; but in applying their opinions to the cases which may arise in the progress of our government, a right to judge of their correctness must be retained."[38] In a letter to Thomas Ritchie in 1821, he stated that "the legitimate meaning of the Instrument must be derived from the text itself; or if a key is to be sought elsewhere, it must be not in the opinions or intentions of the Body which planned & proposed the Constitution, but in the sense attached to it by the people in their respective State Conventions where it recd. all the authority which it possesses."
[39][40]

text: Complete list[edit]

text: The colors used to highlight the rows correspond to the author of the paper.

text:
#

Date

Title

Author

1

October 27, 1787

General Introduction

Alexander Hamilton

2

October 31, 1787

Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence

John Jay

3

November 3, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence

John Jay

4

November 7, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence

John Jay

5

November 10, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence

John Jay

6

November 14, 1787

Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States

Alexander Hamilton

7

November 15, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States

Alexander Hamilton

8

November 20, 1787

The Consequences of Hostilities Between the States

Alexander Hamilton

9

November 21, 1787

The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection

Alexander Hamilton

10

November 22, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection

James Madison

11

November 24, 1787

The Utility of the Union in Respect to Commercial Relations and a Navy

Alexander Hamilton

12

November 27, 1787

The Utility of the Union In Respect to Revenue

Alexander Hamilton

13

November 28, 1787

Advantage of the Union in Respect to Economy in Government

Alexander Hamilton

14

November 30, 1787

Objections to the Proposed Constitution From Extent of Territory Answered

James Madison

15

December 1, 1787

The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union

Alexander Hamilton

16

December 4, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union

Alexander Hamilton

17

December 5, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union

Alexander Hamilton

18

December 7, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union

James Madison[11]

19

December 8, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union

James Madison[11]

20

December 11, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union

James Madison[11]

21

December 12, 1787

Other Defects of the Present Confederation

Alexander Hamilton

22

December 14, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: Other Defects of the Present Confederation

Alexander Hamilton

23

December 18, 1787

The Necessity of a Government as Energetic as the One Proposed to the Preservation of the Union

Alexander Hamilton

24

December 19, 1787

The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered

Alexander Hamilton

25

December 21, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered

Alexander Hamilton

26

December 22, 1787

The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered

Alexander Hamilton

27

December 25, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered

Alexander Hamilton

28

December 26, 1787

The Same Subject Continued: The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered

Alexander Hamilton

29

January 9, 1788

Concerning the Militia

Alexander Hamilton

30

December 28, 1787

Concerning the General Power of Taxation

Alexander Hamilton

31

January 1, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation

Alexander Hamilton

32

January 2, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation

Alexander Hamilton

33

January 2, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation

Alexander Hamilton

34

January 5, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation

Alexander Hamilton

35

January 5, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation

Alexander Hamilton

36

January 8, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation

Alexander Hamilton

37

January 11, 1788

Concerning the Difficulties of the Convention in Devising a Proper Form of Government

James Madison

38

January 12, 1788

The Same Subject Continued, and the Incoherence of the Objections to the New Plan Exposed

James Madison

39

January 18, 1788

The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles

James Madison

40

January 18, 1788

The Powers of the Convention to Form a Mixed Government Examined and Sustained

James Madison

41

January 19, 1788

General View of the Powers Conferred by the Constitution

James Madison

42

January 22, 1788

The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered

James Madison

43

January 23, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered

James Madison

44

January 25, 1788

Restrictions on the Authority of the Several States

James Madison

45

January 26, 1788

The Alleged Danger From the Powers of the Union to the State Governments Considered

James Madison

46

January 29, 1788

The Influence of the State and Federal Governments Compared

James Madison

47

January 30, 1788

The Particular Structure of the New Government and the Distribution of Power Among Its Different Parts

James Madison

48

February 1, 1788

These Departments Should Not Be So Far Separated as to Have No Constitutional Control Over Each Other

James Madison

49

February 2, 1788

Method of Guarding Against the Encroachments of Any One Department of Government

James Madison[41]

50

February 5, 1788

Periodic Appeals to the People Considered

James Madison[41]

51

February 6, 1788

The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments

James Madison[41]

52

February 8, 1788

The House of Representatives

James Madison[41]

53

February 9, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: The House of Representatives

James Madison[41]

54

February 12, 1788

The Apportionment of Members Among the States

James Madison[41]

55

February 13, 1788

The Total Number of the House of Representatives

James Madison[41]

56

February 16, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: The Total Number of the House of Representatives

James Madison[41]

57

February 19, 1788

The Alleged Tendency of the New Plan to Elevate the Few at the Expense of the Many

James Madison[41]

58

February 20, 1788

Objection That The Number of Members Will Not Be Augmented as the Progress of Population Demands Considered

James Madison[41]

59

February 22, 1788

Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members

Alexander Hamilton

60

February 23, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members

Alexander Hamilton

61

February 26, 1788

The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members

Alexander Hamilton

62

February 27, 1788

The Senate

James Madison[41]

63

March 1, 1788

The Senate Continued

James Madison[41]

64

March 5, 1788

The Powers of the Senate

John Jay

65

March 7, 1788

The Powers of the Senate Continued

Alexander Hamilton

66

March 8, 1788

Objections to the Power of the Senate To Set as a Court for Impeachments Further Considered

Alexander Hamilton

67

March 11, 1788

The Executive Department

Alexander Hamilton

68

March 12, 1788

The Mode of Electing the President

Alexander Hamilton

69

March 14, 1788

The Real Character of the Executive

Alexander Hamilton

70

March 15, 1788

The Executive Department Further Considered

Alexander Hamilton

71

March 18, 1788

The Duration in Office of the Executive

Alexander Hamilton

72

March 19, 1788

The Same Subject Continued, and Re-Eligibility of the Executive Considered

Alexander Hamilton

73

March 21, 1788

The Provision For The Support of the Executive, and the Veto Power

Alexander Hamilton

74

March 25, 1788

The Command of the Military and Naval Forces, and the Pardoning Power of the Executive

Alexander Hamilton

75

March 26, 1788

The Treaty Making Power of the Executive

Alexander Hamilton

76

April 1, 1788

The Appointing Power of the Executive

Alexander Hamilton

77

April 2, 1788

The Appointing Power Continued and Other Powers of the Executive Considered

Alexander Hamilton

78

May 28, 1788 (book)June 14, 1788 (newspaper)

The Judiciary Department

Alexander Hamilton

79

May 28, 1788 (book)June 18, 1788 (newspaper)

The Judiciary Continued

Alexander Hamilton

80

June 21, 1788

The Powers of the Judiciary

Alexander Hamilton

81

June 25, 1788 andJune 28, 1788

The Judiciary Continued, and the Distribution of the Judicial Authority

Alexander Hamilton

82

July 2, 1788

The Judiciary Continued

Alexander Hamilton

83

July 5, 1788,July 9, 1788 andJuly 12, 1788

The Judiciary Continued in Relation to Trial by Jury

Alexander Hamilton

84

July 16, 1788,July 26, 1788 andAugust 9, 1788

Certain General and Miscellaneous Objections to the Constitution Considered and Answered

Alexander Hamilton

85

August 13, 1788 andAugust 16, 1788

Concluding Remarks

Alexander Hamilton