(1) General Introduction

Alexander Hamilton

AFTER the disruptive experience of diverging philosophies concerning the role of federal government in our society, we are all called upon to deliberate anew the Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks to its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it has been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question: whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on their passions and forces beyond their control. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we have arrived may, with propriety, be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.

A New Beginning

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The Federalist, commonly referred to as the Federalist Papers, is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788. The essays were published anonymously, under the pen name “Publius,” in various New York state newspapers of the time.

The Federalist Papers were written and published to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. In lobbying for adoption of the Constitution over the existing Articles of Confederation, the essays explain particular provisions of the Constitution in detail. For this reason, and because Hamilton and Madison were each members of the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist Papers are often used today to help interpret the intentions of those drafting the Constitution.

The Library of Congress: About the Federalist Papers

Considerable division has arisen over the proper interpretation of the Constitution. This dramatic disagreement has contributed to what amounts to a political civil war. Instead of resolution, the problem is getting worse.

The New Federalist is intended to embrace the spirit of the original Federalist Papers and replicate them in modern terms, to propose a singular interpretation and understanding of the U. S. Constitution and the government it envisions, and to urge general acceptance of a common understanding of the Constitution and our country that could lead to closing the political rift.

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