Madison, a delegate in the Convention from the State of Virginia, and one of the most influential members of that body, was also enlisted in the work, and to him was entrusted the discussion of those branches of the subject which were particularly connected with the individual powers and interests of the states, and of the people, including popular tumults, the republican character of the proposed constitution, the authority which it proposed to delegate to the three departments of the federal government respectively, the relative influence of the proposed federal and the state authorities, and the organization and authority of the proposed Senate and House of Representatives. A third auxiliary pen, it is said, was originally proposed; but no person having been named in that connection, the individual referred to is not certainly known, although it is not improbable that James Duane’s profound legal abilities or Philip Schuyler’s practical business education was that which was particularly desired to make the Federalist more perfect in some of its parts.

It is fortunate for the student of American constitutional history, that the distinguished leader of the “Federalists” in New York left behind him the syllabus of the great work which is the subject of our examination, from which, and from other sources, not less authentic, a more complete analysis of the argument which was employed in behalf of the proposed Constitution has been prepared, and will be submitted at the close of this Introduction. It will not be necessary, therefore, in this place, to examine the details of the discussion by the three champions of “the new system,” or to inquire in what manner the powerful and well-directed opposition within the State of New York was met and overcome.

The three associates labored harmoniously, each within his designated field of inquiry, but all under a common signature. The joint production was styled The Federalist ⁠—to indicate its support of the federal union of the thirteen sovereign states; and the several numbers which the triad produced bore the common signature of “Publius.”

Of the manner in which the three authors discharged their self-imposed duty, the general approval of their countrymen and the encomiums of the learned throughout Europe have borne the most satisfactory evidence. The Federalist is surpassed by few, if any, writings of a similar character, of the period in which it was written; and if confusion sometimes prevails in its pages from the want of precision in their use of acknowledged technical terms; if their early training in British schools, under British masters, hampered them in their newly acquired position as lawgivers for commonwealths which had expressly rejected the fundamental principles of British governmental science; if the then imperfectly acquired knowledge of the ancient republics rendered their illustrations, to some extent, imperfect⁠—the distinguished authors of the work shared these misfortunes with the best writers of the age in which they lived, and their work is not more disfigured from these causes than are those of the most approved authors of that period.

Henry B. Dawson

General Introduction

Hamilton: For The Independent Journal , Saturday, October 27, 1787.

To the People of the State of New York: