The Federalist, which came to be called the Federalist Papers in the twentieth century, is a remarkable series of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay arguing in favor of ratification of the United States Constitution by the thirteen original colonies.  The Constitutional Convention had taken place from May to September 1787 in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation that determined the operation of the government following independence from Great Britain.  James Madison and Alexander Hamilton instead advocated the creation of a new government.  After much debate the delegates agreed on the principles contained in Madison’s Virginia Plan and proceeded to produce the document we know as the Constitution, which was submitted to states in September 1787.  The Federalist papers were written in response to criticism of the Constitution, collected as the “Anti-Federalist Papers”.

The articles were first published between October 1787 and August 1788 in New York in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet and then published in two volumes in 1788. Hamilton is the author of 51 articles, Madison the author of 26, and John Jay, who fell ill, authored 5.  In the words of historian Richard B. Morris, they are an "incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer."