John Jay

The Federalist Papers John Jay

The Federalist Papers are a series of newspaper articles written by three men: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. In the course of these articles, they lay out the arguments of the necessity of a singular federal government that unifies the then brand new United States of America. For those not intimately familiar with the events leading up to the Federalist papers, please allow me to set the stage. In 1776, Independence was declared. Great Britain does not acknowledge this independence and instead declares war. This war lasts until 1783. By this point in time, a series of laws known as the Articles of Confederation are created by representatives of the Continental Congress. (See "The Life of President Thomas Jefferson" for a first hand account of these events.) These laws have been argued over and debated over to effectively allow each colony to become its own sovereign nation or "state." Each state prints its own currency, has its own separate navy and army, and acts as a separate nation that enacts its own laws. Even import tariffs and immigration are handled independently of each other. This is because it is how each colony had already operated for several hundred years. The modern reader will see the inherent flaws in this model and will question why. They were completely independent of each other and subject only to the English crown and the parliament, but not to each other. These Federalist Papers, or Federalist Articles, frame the proposed arguments for a new constitution and a new form of government (the federal government) which will unify these independent nations under a unified government, as one singular country. In 1789, six years after the end of hostilities, the new constitution (mostly written by James Madison) is adopted. The new form of government comes alive, and George Washington is elected as the First President of the United States of America. These are the arguments that led to these events...