Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist

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Alexander Hamilton and The Federalist The Federalist essays are a series of eighty-five essays that were written with the intention of persuading the residents of New York to ratify the proposed United States Constitution. Alexander Hamilton was concerned that his fellow New Yorkers would not ratify the constitution due to the fact that, in New York, “Anti-Federalists such as Governor George Clinton held power.” [9] The ratification of the proposed Constitution in New York was especially important because the state was “a major economic and political entity located in the heart of the country [and] would be an essential pivot in any union of states.” [8] Hamilton recruited John Jay and James Madison to help him publish The Federalist essays. They were initially published by New York newspapers beginning on October 27, 1787, and were written under the pseudonym Publius, taken from a Roman politician by the name of Publius Valerius Publicola. This pseudonym had special meaning to Hamilton; he had chosen it because “Publius Valerius was not a late defender of the republic but one of its founders. His more famous name, Publicola, meant ‘friend of the people’,” [5] By April 1788 the men had published seventy-seven of The Federalist essays. All three authors drew on their experiences in national politics and the military. The two main authors, Hamilton and Madison, were a key part of the activities leading to the Federal Convention and the drafting of the Constitution. In fact all three of these men went on to great things. James Madison became the fourth President of the United States and is considered the father of the Constitution; Alexander Hamilton was part of George Washington’s cabinet as the first Secretary of the Treasury, in this position he formed economic policy for the United States that is still used today; and John Jay was
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