No. 1
The Federalist Papers a guided tour
Three men write eighty-five essays in ten months, publishing as one voice in New York newspapers, arguing for a document they helped draft. The world has been quoting them ever since.
The book in brief
The Federalist Papers are eighty-five essays published in New York newspapers between October 1787 and May 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, writing under the shared pseudonym Publius. The essays were written to persuade New York to ratify the newly drafted Constitution of the United States. They lost the public debate in New York and won the intellectual argument for two centuries.
What they produced, at a working journalist's pace, is the closest thing the United States has to an authoritative commentary on its own founding document. Judges quote them. Law schools teach them. Every serious argument about what the Constitution means — the power of the executive, the structure of federalism, the scope of judicial review — starts from them. Read them now as political philosophy, as constitutional law, and as the record of three extraordinary men talking themselves and their country into a new form of government.
The Federalist Papers, chapter by chapter
Click through the 85 chapters like a tour. Each card picks up where the last left off — a quick way to read The Federalist Papers in five minutes. Open any book in depth, or jump straight into the reader.
No. 1 of 85
Key themes
5 threads that hold the book together. Full analysis →
The Problem of Faction
Federalist 10 is the most carefully argued short piece of political philosophy produced in the eighteenth century. Madison asks why small republics destroy themselves through faction, then shows why an extended republic is the cure.
Separation of Powers and Auxiliary Precautions
The accumulation of all powers in the same hands is the very definition of tyranny. Madison's five-paper sequence on separation of powers is the foundational statement of the constitutional doctrine in any language.
Energy in the Executive
The most controversial structural choice in the Constitution was a single chief executive. Hamilton's defence turns on a distinction between energy and safety — and argues that a plural executive delivers neither.
The Judiciary and Judicial Review
Federalist 78 is the founding theoretical statement of judicial review — the power of courts to set aside legislation that conflicts with the Constitution. Chief Justice Marshall drew on it almost verbatim in Marbury v. Madison.
The Bill of Rights Argument and Its Reversal
Hamilton's defence of the Constitution's omission of a bill of rights is the most carefully reasoned losing argument in the founding period. He was right in theory and wrong in politics, and the country is better off for it.
Key figures
The 3 who matter most. More in the full character guide.
Alexander Hamilton
Primary author (51 papers)
Born around 1755 on Nevis, illegitimate, orphaned at thirteen, sent to New York as a teenager. Aide-de-camp to Washington through the Revolutionary War. New York lawyer and delegate to the Philadelphia Convention. Conceived The Federalist within three weeks of the Convention's adjournment. Wrote fifty-one papers — on union, taxation, the military, commerce, the executive, and the judiciary — at a working journalist's pace. Became the first Secretary of the Treasury in 1789. Killed by Aaron Burr in a duel at Weehawken in July 1804.
James Madison
Theorist (29 papers)
Born 1751 in Virginia. Princeton-educated. Delegate from Virginia to the Philadelphia Convention, keeper of its most detailed notes. Wrote twenty-nine papers including Federalist 10, 39, 47–51, and 62–63. Later co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party with Jefferson and served as the fourth President of the United States. The last surviving Framer; died 1836.
John Jay
Foreign affairs (5 papers)
Born 1745 in New York, lawyer of French Huguenot descent. Former president of the Continental Congress, Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation. Wrote five papers on foreign affairs and the union (Nos. 2–5 and 64), limited by illness to that contribution. Became the first Chief Justice of the United States in 1789.
Go deeper
In 5 minutes — or in depth
Chapter-by-chapter
All 85 chapters summarized. The full plot in detail, told fast or told slow.
Analysis
Themes & meaning
Faction, separation of powers, energy in the executive, judicial review, the bill of rights.
Who's who
The Founders and their adversaries
The voices of a founding argument.