The Federalist Papers

The Federalist papers -- 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in support of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution -- began appearing in New York newspapers beginning in the autumn of 1787. And though controversy still swirls around authorship of certain individual essays, and the impact the papers had on the public opinion of the time remains open to debate, it's clear that the dramatic impact on global civilization of these spirited defenses of the nation's founding document cannot be exaggerated.

As masterful examinations of the fundamental principals of the U.S. system of government, they are unrivaled -- as works of political philosophy, they have moved and influenced peoples and nations around the world in their battles toward freedom and democracy. This edition also includes The Articles of Confederation of the United States, and The Declaration of Independence.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1757-1804), JOHN JAY (1745-1829), and JAMES MADISON (1751-1836) are among the most revered of America's Founding Fathers, men whose animated advocacy of the new nation continues to reverberate in political thought today.
"This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren ... should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties." So wrote John Jay, one of the revolutionary authors of The Federalist Papers, arguing that if the United States was truly to be a single nation, its leaders would have to agree on universally binding rules of governance--in short, a constitution.

In a brilliant set of essays, Jay and his colleagues Alexander Hamilton and James Madison explored in minute detail the implications of establishing a kind of rule that would engage as many citizens as possible and that would include a system of checks and balances. Their arguments proved successful in the end, and The Federalist Papers stand as key documents in the founding of the United States.