Who were the authors of The Federalist Papers and what was the purpose for writing it?

Answer 1

John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton wrote The Federalist/The Federalist Papers to win support for a more central government. In other words, The Constitution needed ratifying.

Answer 2

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay published The Federalist Papers under the name of Publius.

The essays originally appeared in three New York newspapers, the Independent Journal, the New York Packet, and the Daily Advertiser, in 1787 and 1788 and were intended to convince the States (particularly New York) to ratify the new Constitution in order to replace the old government organized under the Articles of Confederation.

In total, the Federalist Papers consist of 85 essays outlining how the proposed Republican form of government would operate and why it was the best choice for the individual States and for the United States of America as a whole. Many states remained skeptical because the Constitution deprived them of certain rights they had as individual states in exchange for the benefits of forming a united body.

The Federalist papers were largely successful, but the Framers also had to promise the states they would create a Bill of Rights to protect both them and their citizens from abuses at the hands of the federal government.

• James Madison 28 papers: 10, 14, 37-58 and 62-63
• Alexander Hamilton 52 papers: 1, 6-9, 11-13, 15-36, 59-61, and 65-85
• John Jay 2-5 (Foreign Affairs) and 64 (on the Senate)

The identify of the authors of some essays is in dispute, but the (current) general consensus is that Alexander Hamilton wrote 52, James Madison wrote 28, and John Jay contributed the remaining five.

The Federalist Papers remain today as an excellent reference for anyone who wants to understand the U.S. Constitution. They should be contrasted with essays written by the Anti-Federalists, who warned of the dangers inherent in the new government, and whose authorship is less clear.