FEDERALIST, The (1787-88). When the text of the Constitution was published in New York, 27 Sept. 1787, the opposition was at first overwhelming; the State held too advan tageous a position, as general gatekeeper of the commerce of her neighbors and able to sup port herself by levying customs duties on them, to surrender it. Unless New York ratified the Constitution, there could be no Union; and New York certainly would not ratify it as things stood. Alexander Hamilton, therefore, induced James Madison and John Jay to unite with him in publishing a series of anonymous essays to defend the new instrument and urge its absolute necessity; Gouverneur Morris was asked to join, but declined. From 27 Oct. 1787 to 2 April 1788, 77 essays were published in the semi-weekly Independent Journal of New York, entitled, The Federalist, and signed first °A Citizen of New York,' then •Publius.* Eight more were added when they were lected in book form. Their influence was enormous not only in New York, where they greatly aided the final ratification by two votes, but elsewhere the essays circulated extensively in pamphlet form; they were so acute and mas sively learned in their exposition of the true intent of the Constitution, that even the courts have accepted them as authoritative comments in doubtful cases; and they are held by all the civilized world as among the noblest store houses of political philosophy in existence, a classic textbook of political science. The exact
authorship is matter of debate. Jay certainly wrote 5; Hamilton's son claimed 63 for his father and 3 for him and Madison jointly, leaving the latter 14, but Madison in 1819 claimed 29 for himself alone, leaving Hamilton 51. John Fiske thinks Madison's 29 much the most valuable for constitutional exposition; the Hamiltonian can claim half of them. There are many editions; the best is Paul Leicester Ford's indexed edition of 1898. In John C. Hamilton's of 1875 he has a long essay on the authorship. Other editions are those by H, B. Dawson (New York 1864), by H. C. Lodge (ib. 1888) and by E. H. Scott (Chicago 1895). On the authorship of the Federalist, consult Bourne and Paul Leicester Ford, in American Historical Review (Vol. II, New York 1897).