![]() 44, the restrictions on state power (“No State shall enter into any treaty … coin money … or grant any title of nobility”) and in No. 41, 42, and 43, describing the general powers of the federal government (to declare war to borrow money “to make treaties to send and receive ambassadors … to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations to regulate foreign commerce”) in No. Madison, too, wrote essays on the fundamental powers of the federal and state governments: in Nos. 84, Hamilton defended the Constitution despite its lack of a bill of rights. 67 to 77, about the powers of the executive branch-like the president’s commander-in-chief and pardoning powers, in No. 78, the plan for the federal judiciary, including its lifetime appointment (“the judiciary … is in continual jeopardy of being overpowered, awed, or influenced by its co-ordinate branches and that as nothing can contribute so much to its firmness and independence as permanency in office”) and Nos. 30, the taxing power (“Money is … the vital principle of the body politic”) No. 1, Alexander Hamilton challenged his audience to consider the impact of ratification: “It seems to have been reserved to the people of this country … to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.” Hamilton went on to write a majority of the essays, including: No. Today, scholars typically refer to the collective essays as the “Federalist Papers.” Written by two of the Constitution’s Framers (Madison and Hamilton), they are an authoritative resource for academics, lawyers, and judges-including Supreme Court justices-to use to interpret the Constitution and to determine its original, or historic, meaning. For instance, either Madison or Hamilton wrote a series of articles on the House of Representatives-Federalist Nos. ![]() So Hamilton, Madison, and Jay worked together to compose a series of 85 articles, published variously in four New York newspapers, to explain the Constitution’s structure and text and to address criticisms.Įach essay was written under the pseudonym, “Publius,” titled “Federalist Paper” and numbered, and addressed “To the People of the State of New York.” (Though published anonymously, the authorship of many of the articles has been determined, for example, by stylistic differences-although certain articles remain unattributed. New York was a large, populous, and geographically central state, and its membership in the new republic was crucial. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay (credit: Wikimedia Commons) Though the members of the Constitutional Convention had already approved the document as of September 17, 1787, it could not go into effect until at least nine states ratified it. On October 27, 1787, the first of the Federalist Papers is published in support of the newly signed Constitution.īetween October 1787 and May 1788, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay undertook what was essentially a public relations campaign to encourage New York to ratify the U.S.
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