The Federalist Papers

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Written between October 1787 and May 1788, The Federalist, commonly referred to as The Federalist Papers, are a series of 85 essays.  They were meant to encourage New Yorkers to ratify the recently written Constitution which would supersede the essential, yet lacking, Articles of Confederation .

They were originally published primarily in two New York Publications, The New York Packet and The Independent Journal, using the pen name Publius.  When they were later republished in a bound publication, the original author of each essay was noted: John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.

In the past, The Federalist were commonly used to learn original intent of several points of The Constitution.

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