"The Federalist was the first noteworthy treatise on federal government...a dignifeid and worthy commentary upon the creation of the greatest federal constitution that the world has yet seen, that of the United States." It consists of 85 articles contributed anonymously to New York Journals from the autumn of 1787 to the spring of 1788; their purpose was to persuade the people of New York to ratify the Consitution which had just been drawn up by the convention. The author of each essay is here named at the head; Jay was ...
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"The Federalist was the first noteworthy treatise on federal government...a dignifeid and worthy commentary upon the creation of the greatest federal constitution that the world has yet seen, that of the United States." It consists of 85 articles contributed anonymously to New York Journals from the autumn of 1787 to the spring of 1788; their purpose was to persuade the people of New York to ratify the Consitution which had just been drawn up by the convention. The author of each essay is here named at the head; Jay was responsible for only five of the earliest, Hamilton and Madison for the rest.
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Basically this is a series of essays meant to support the writing of the US Constitution and it argues for the union rather than a group of confederacies. Even though it was early in the history of the union many of the statements made are predictions of things to come and this, in itself, suggest the importance of these essays. Everything that happened later from Lincoln to Bush are in these essays. As I have only read through 13 of the essays it is only a beginning to what comes in the rest. This group of essays takes all the writings of the period including those about the social contract in defending its position. Anyone wanting to understand our current President must read these essays. I personally learned enough in reading the first 13 essays to make intelligent choices at the polls. One of the arguments compared Great Britain who has several separate confederacies--Ireland, Wales,Scotland, Cornwall-- and their difficulties over the centuries that led to conflict and war on their own borders.
