The Federalist Papers
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The Federalist Papers are the 85 articles and essays James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay published arguing for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the federal form of government proposed under the document. The Papers argued against the existing confederated structure under the Articles of Confederation as a weak governing system that needed fully replaced. They argued the Constitution would strengthen the federal government enough to allow for effective governance but not enough to infringe on the rights of individuals.[1][2]
All three writers published their papers under the collective pseudonym Publius between 1787-1788.[2]
Background of the Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers are the 85 articles and essays James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay published arguing for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the full replacement of the Articles of Confederation. All three writers published their papers under the collective pseudonym Publius between 1787-1788.[2]
The Articles of Confederation were an agreement among the original thirteen states in the United States to unite under a central government consisting of the Continental Congress. The Continental Congress proposed the Articles in 1777, and they became effective in March 1781.
The Articles primarily authorized the national government to govern diplomatic foreign relations and regulate and fund the Continental Army. Under the Articles, the Continental Congress lacked the power to levy taxes and could only request funds from the states. The inability of the national government to raise money caused the government to default on pension payments to former Revolutionary War soldiers and other financial obligations, resulting in unrest. Shay's Rebellion was a prominent example of unrest related to the weakness of the central government and the Continental Congress' inability to fulfill its obligations.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was convened to solve the problems related to the weak national government. Federalists, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, advocated for a completely new government under the United States Constitution. They rejected the Articles of Confederation as a weak governing document that needed fully replaced. The federalists thought the strengthened national government could help protect individual rights from factional conflicts at the state and local levels. They argued the Constitution would strengthen the federal government enough to allow for effective governance but not enough to infringe on the rights of individuals.[3][1][2]
Anti-federalists like Patrick Henry, Melancton Smith, and George Clinton argued that the national government proposed under the Constitution would be too powerful and would infringe on individual liberties. They thought the Articles of Confederation needed to be amended, not replaced.[3][1][2]
Full list of Federalist Papers
The following is a list of individual essays that were collected and published in 1788 as The Federalist and later known as The Federalist Papers. These essays were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. They argued for ratification of the United States Constitution as a replacement for the Articles of Confederation.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Middle Tennessee State University, "Anti-Federalists," accessed July 27, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Federalist Papers, "THE ANTIFEDERALIST PAPERS," accesses July 27, 2021 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "fedpapers" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive, "Federalism," accessed July 27, 2021
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