What were the Federalist Papers?

The Federalist Papers were a collection of newspaper articles, written primarily by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison [with a little help from John Jay] from 1787-1788.  They were originally designed as a propaganda piece to influence the debate over ratification of the Constitution.  For a modern audience, however, reading The Federalist, as they were officially titled,is like have a private meeting with the savviest political and legal minds America has ever produced.  The Federalist not only serves as the single most important resource for interpreting the Constitution, it provides a wise and sophisticated explanation for the uses and abuses of governmental power from Washington to Baghdad.

Notable Quotations on the Value of The Federalist

Thomas Jefferson called The Federalist: “the best commentary on the principles of government which was ever written.”

Theodore Roosevelt stated that The Federalist was, “on the whole the greatest book dealing with applied politics that there has ever been.”

Chief Justice John Marshall in 1821 wrote that The Federalist was “a complete commentary on our Constitution, and is appealed to by all parties.”

George Washington declared that The Federalist  “will merit the Notice of Posterity; because in it are candidly and ably discussed the principles of freedom and the topics of government, which will be always interesting to mankind so long as they shall be connected in Civil Society.”

Chancellor James Kent, in his classic work Commentaries on American Law (1826) wrote: “I know not, indeed, of any work on the principles of free government that is to be compared, in instruction and intrinsic value, to the small and unpretending volume of The Federalist; not even if we resort to Aristotle, Cicero, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Milton, Locke, or Burke. It is equally admirable in the depth of its wisdom, the comprehensiveness of its views, the sagacity of its reflections, and the fearlessness, candor, simplicity, and elegance, with which its truths are uttered and recommended."

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America:
“I shall often have occasion to quote The Federalist in this work. When the draft law, which has since become the Constitution of the United States, was still before the people and submitted for their adoption, three men, already famous and later to become even more celebrated–John Jay, Hamilton, and Madison–associated together with the object of pointing out to the nation the advantages of the plan submitted to it. With this intention they published in a journal a series of articles which together form a complete treatise… The Federalist is a fine book, and though it especially concerns America, it should be familiar to statesmen of all countries.”

Chief Justice Samuel Chase in Calder v. Bull (1798) praised The Federalist for its:
“extensive and accurate knowledge of the true principles of Government.”

From the “You can’t please everyone” department

Louis Otto, the French Charge d’Affaires during the ratification of the Constitution said of The Federalist: “The work is of no use to the well-informed, and it is too learned and too long for the ignorant.”

Robert Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory (1956) wrote:
“It must never be forgotten that the Federalist Papers were polemical and propagandistic writing, reflecting a highly partisan viewpoint.”