The Federalist Papers is considered by many legal scholars, historians and legislators to be the primary source documents for the rationale and intentions of the framers’ of the Constitution of the United States of America.They were originally published anonymously between October 1787 and May1788 under the pen name “Publus”, in New York state and other newspapers at that time. They are a collection of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. Because Hamilton and Madison were members of the Constitutional Convention, which created the U.S. Constitution of the United States of America in 1787, the essays described and explained provisions of the Constitution in detail, including the framers’ intent, their rationale and often, their concerns for maintaining the union. Because of this, the Papers are used often today to interpret the intentions of the original drafters of the Constitution. There are very few ways to “read the mind” of the founders of the United States of America, the Federalist Papers are certainly one of them.
You may also be interested in:
The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of the United States
The Bill of Rights
Congressional Record