For the nascent United States, after the drafting of the Constitution in 1787 came another difficult part: getting it ratified by the 13 states. The men who toiled over the style and substance of the document then had to persuade specially-formed conventions in each state to approve the document. The Constitution in many ways was a set of compromises between the many different interests of the new nation, among these compromises was that of having a national government – fiercely independent Rhode Island did not even send a delegate to the convention. Those who had this central government very much at heart were known as Federalists.

It was agreed that ratification from nine out of thirteen states would be sufficient for a national government to be formed and by the end of 1787 five states, among which was the large and important Pennsylvania, had given assent to the Constitution. But it was New York that was a big worry for the Federalists as the anti-federalists there were particularly well organized. A war of words was to break out in the newspapers of the state and city. A series of anti-federalist articles preceded the now well-known Federalist Papers and indeed, were the inspiration that produced them. These Federalist Papers amounted to 77 articles in New York newspapers which were eventually gathered into one weighty volume. They were mainly written by the high priest of federalism, Alexander Hamilton, though the not-quite-so-federalist James Madison also contributed a solid chunk.

The main thrust of the arguments of the federalist articles was that a national government was a good thing, as can be seen in article titles such as “The Consequences of Hostilities Between the States”, “The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection”, “Advantage of the Union in Respect to Economy in Government” and “Other Defects of the Present Confederation”. Then there were plenty of articles simply explaining the mechanics of government under the new Constitution. James Madison’s articles particularly focused on how the federal government could mitigate the effects of factionalism, something he considered dangerous to the wellbeing of all countries.

Following a trend of the time, the articles all had the classical nom de plume of Publius rather than the authors’ actual names. This name had a particular but esoteric significance in that Publius Valerius was regarded as one of the founders of the Roman Republic.

In the end, New York narrowly ratified the Constitution. It is impossible to know whether the articles had any impact on the final result but what is sure is that The Federalist Papers became a classic text of American political science.

 

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