The Federalist Papers

When the final agreement was reached with the 55 signers of the U.S. Constitution, it had to be submitted to the 13 new States for ratification. That road was still rough. Even though the document was signed unanimously as requested by Benjamin Franklin, there was still much uncertainty among the States.

Each State had its own ratification Convention. To explain the arguments in favor of adoption, three great men, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” wrote a series of articles explaining the meaning of this new intended Constitution.

These articles became a booklet entitled “The Federalist Papers.” I wish these papers were more seriously studied and contemplated by our own judges and Representatives and Senators. They are wonderful explanations of our founding documents. But alas, they seem to be forgotten by many jurists and scholars. You can tell by today’s court decisions, some of which are diametrically opposite to what our founders had intended.

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