Federalist Papers

The Federalist is the most important work in political science that has ever been written in the United States, or will likely ever be written for that matter. This body of writings are the most respected commentary on the U.S. Constitution. In recent times, the Federalist Papers have become the benchmark of timeless truths about constitutional governments. When the first of these eighty-five articles began to appear in the newspapers of New York in October of 1787, The U.S. Constitution stood little chance of ratification. Written in haste and during a time of great crisis in the American government, the articles were only a few among many such writings appearing in that day supporting and opposing the newly written but unratified Constitution, and none were expected to achieve immortality.

Two-thirds of the articles were written by Alexander Hamilton, who would become perhaps America's most important Secretary of Treasury. John Jay, America's first Supreme Court Chief Justice wrote only a few because of ill health, and the remainder were written by James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, even though he hated the title, went on to become the America's Secretary of State and President. The exact number of articles each man wrote and exactly which articles they wrote is not precisely known, but experts have associated most of the articles with a particular author by comparing the writings with other things they wrote and said on the particular issues.

Considered to be among the most innovative and brilliant articles are Madison's number 10 and number 51, and Hamilton's number 70 and number 78. 

The cream of the crop are twenty-one papers; numbers 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 23, 37, 47, 48, 49, 51, 62, 63, 70, 78, 84, and 85. Ten of these papers were written by Hamilton, ten were written by Madison, and one by John Jay. These are the best supporting documents for the U.S. Constitution every written and without them the Constitution would never have been ratified and America might not have survived as a nation. 

Fed No. 1 Fed No. 2 Fed No. 3 Fed No. 4 Fed No. 5 Fed No. 6 Fed No. 7 Fed No. 8 Fed No. 9 Fed No. 10 Fed No. 11 Fed No. 12 Fed No. 13 Fed No. 14 Fed No. 15 Fed No. 16 Fed No. 17 Fed No. 18 Fed No. 19 Fed No. 20 Fed No. 21 Fed No. 22 Fed No. 23 Fed No. 24 Fed No. 25 Fed No. 26 Fed No. 27 Fed No. 28 Fed No. 29 Fed No. 30 Fed No. 31 Fed No. 32 Fed No. 33 Fed No. 34 Fed No. 35 Fed No. 36 Fed No. 37 Fed No. 38 Fed No. 39 Fed No. 40 Fed No. 41 Fed No. 42 Fed No. 43 Fed No. 44 Fed No. 45 Fed No. 46 Fed No. 47 Fed No. 48 Fed No. 49 Fed No. 50 Fed No. 51 Fed No. 52 Fed No. 53 Fed No. 54 Fed No. 55 Fed No. 56 Fed No. 57 Fed No. 58 Fed No. 59 Fed No. 60 Fed No. 61 Fed No. 62 Fed No. 63 Fed No. 64 Fed No. 65 Fed No. 66 Fed No. 67 Fed No. 68 Fed No. 69 Fed No. 70 Fed No. 71 Fed No. 72 Fed No. 73 Fed No. 74 Fed No. 75 Fed No. 76 Fed No. 77 Fed No. 78 Fed No. 79 Fed No. 80 Fed No. 81 Fed No. 82 Fed No. 83 Fed No. 84 Fed No. 85