Hamilton, Jay, & Madison: The Federalist Papers. IMP. 07 Oct 07
 

The Federalist Papers were written in 1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in support of the proposed US Constitution. They were effective in their day in building support for the Constitution and a major reference today for insights as to what our founders intended the document to mean. (Parts of the papers were included in the Harvard Classics, Volume 43.)

The original publication of the papers were without attribution and research (along with analysis of the writing) has fixed many of them to their original author. Some are still in dispute among the three.

Who are they? Alexander Hamilton after being an aide to George Washington in the war was a proponent for a strong central banking system (like the one the US has today) and was the first Secretary of the Treasury. He was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. John Jay was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. James Madison (husband of Dolly Madison) was US President in the War of 1812.