What are the Federalist Papers?

The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 essays published anonymously by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788, urging ratification of the Constitution. Because the Constitution sought to increase the power of the national government at the expense of the state governments, the national debate over ratification began almost immediately after the Philadelphia Convention sent the proposed constitution to Congress on September 10,1787, and its contents became known. Late in September, the New York Independent Journal began printing a series of Anti-Federalist essays by "Cato" (who may have been New York's powerful governor, George Clinton). In order to refute these and other Anti-Federalist tracts, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, two of New York's most prominent Federalists, agreed to write a series of newspaper essays under the name "Publius." The first (The Federalist No. 1), written by Hamilton, appeared in the New York Independent Journal on October 27, and in it Hamilton outlined the purpose of the entire series. The essays would explain the necessity of the union for "political prosperity," the "insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union," and the need for a more "energetic" government than that which existed under the Articles of Confederation. John Jay wrote the next four installments before ill health forced him to quit. In November, James Madison, who was in New York representing Virginia in Congress, took Jay's place, and between them Madison and Hamilton produced all but one of the remaining eighty essays; Jay wrote No. 64.

source:page 494,The Handy Politics Answer Book by Gina Misiroglu