Amid growing anxieties about the proposed federal government, the authors of the Federalist Papers advocated ratification ofthe U.S. Constitution. Serialized in several NewYork newspapers between October 1787 and August 1788, and published in book form in 1788 as The Federalist, these 8S papers by "Publius" (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay) constitute one of the greatest American contributions to political thought. In his introductory essay, Cass R. Sunstein argues that in rejecting the claims of classical republicanism Publius embraces deliberative democracy. He also reminds us that Publius's arguments bear on current political debates and "offer lessons for making war and making peace, and for domestic emergencies of many different kinds." The John Harvard Library edition reproduces the text of the first book edition, modernizing spelling and capitalization.
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