The Federalist Papers are the third classic set of documents in American History, after the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. These papers, 85 in all, explain the constitution and why the government is structured the way it is.
One year after the U.S. declared its independence from Britain, in 1777, the U.S. was governed under the Articles of Confederation, continuing after the Revolutionary War ended for another six years. This form of government gave most of the power to the states, with a weak federal government. These 13 states were like nations, with their own standing armies, currency, taxation, and duties to any manufactured product crossing their border from the other states. There was a great fear our founding fathers had that the bigger states would either conquer of swallow up other, more weaker states, or they would form confederations with these other states, warring with still other states in other regions. Three potential confederacies would have been the North, the Middle Atlantic States, and the South, all competing with one another, possibly leading up to a war. A new constitution had to be written.
This new constitution formed a strong central, federal government giving it the sole power to coin money, establish its military, make treaties with other countries, make laws on trade and taxation (though states could have their own tax), form a postal system, and other functions in what you see in the federal government today.
These articles were written to explain the constitution and its functions, and to explain the adverse effects on our society should this new document, being the supreme law of the land, not be ratified.
For today’s reader, these articles are written in an antiquated style of English of the 1700s (1787 to be exact) which the reader may find confusing and will have to examine closely. One way to handle this would be highlight certain passages for a clearer understanding.
It is highly recommended that one reads the Articles of Confederation prior to this book, some editions containing this document, along with the Constitution. It is also recommended for the constitutional scholar that not only should this book be read with a pen, but should be read several times to fully understand the content.
A few, but not many of these articles are outdated, such as the issue of slavery, but many other articles predicted many of the problems the U.S. government is having today, corruption, career politicians, special favors politicians do for each other, at the detriment of the American people, gerrymandering. All of these subjects were mentioned to prevent these corruptive practices from happening.
These articles were mainly written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, with one article by John Jay. Originally, the then governor of New York (1787), George Clinton, did not approve of the U.S. Constitution, so these articles were originally published in the New York newspapers to convince him to change his mind. The Constitution, when proposed, was not a popular document.
There are 85 articles in all. The first 36, by Hamilton, tells of the fallacies of the Articles of Confederation and how it can destroy the union. Note that at the time the articles were written, during the rebellion, they were needed at that time for stability in each colony/state, so don’t criticize them too harshly. They were written with only what was known at that time.
Articles 37 through 58 explains the Constitution itself, and the three branches of government to be formed, the President, the Congress (and why it is divided between the Senate and the House of Representatives), and the Supreme Court, being the Executive, the Legislative, and Judicial branches, respectively.
The rest of them, by Hamilton and Madison, go on to further explain these branches, the powers of the three branches, references to state governments, why we need an electoral system in presidential elections, impeachment of any official, trade and treaties with foreign governments, and comparisons with other governments in the past.
References to other foreign governments were not to the British exclusively, but also to ancient Greece, Rome, and Carthage. These sources is where we obtained our rights in the Constitution, and are referred to constantly throughout the book. Also mentioned are comparison to monarchies.
The U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are two of the most widely respected documents in the world, respected by many nations, including the British.
In this difficult time, we, as Americans need to study our Constitution again, and we need to study these papers that lead up to it.
The Federalist Papers need to be read, or studied, in this situation.
Alastair Browne
