The Federalist Papers

At times, three to four new essays by Publius appeared in the papers in a single week. Garry Wills observes that this fast pace of production "overwhelmed" any possible response: "Who, given ample time could have answered such a battery of arguments? And no time was given."[

Because the essays were initially published in New York, most of them begin with the same salutation: "To the People of the State of New York".

The collection was commonly known as The Federalist until the name The Federalist Papers emerged in the twentieth century.

The authors of The Federalist intended to influence the voters to ratify the Constitution. In Federalist No. 1, they explicitly set that debate in broad political terms:

It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies

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