ABOUT THE FEDERALIST PAPERS

The Federalist, commonly referred to as the Federalist  Papers, is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander  Hamilton, John Jay,  and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788. The essays were published  anonymously, under the pen name "Publius," in various New York state newspapers  of the time.

The Federalist Papers were written and published to urge New Yorkers  to ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in  Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. In lobbying for adoption of the Constitution  over the existing Articles of Confederation, the essays explain particular  provisions of the Constitution in detail. For this reason, and because Hamilton  and Madison were each members of the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist Papers are often used today to help interpret the intentions  of those drafting the Constitution.

The Federalist Papers were published primarily in two New York state  newspapers: The New York Packet and The Independent Journal.  They were reprinted in other newspapers in New York state and in several cities  in other states. A bound edition, with revisions and corrections by Hamilton,  was published in 1788 by printers J. and A.  McLean. An edition published by  printer Jacob Gideon in 1818, with revisions and corrections by Madison, was the  first to identify each essay by its author's name. Because of its publishing  history, the assignment of authorship, numbering, and exact wording may vary  with different editions of The Federalist.

The electronic text of The Federalist used here was compiled for  Project Gutenberg by scholars who drew on many available versions of the papers.

One printed edition of the text is The Federalist, edited by Jacob  E. Cooke (Middletown, Conn., Wesleyan University Press, 1961). Cooke's  introduction provides background information on the printing history of The  Federalist; the information provided above comes in part from his work.