Social Studies 5: The Federalist Papers

…We're working on the name.

But maybe you'd call the collection...

“Candy: It's What Should Be For Dinner”

or maybe…

“The Playstation Papers: Why Every House Needs One”

Okay so maybe that sounds like a silly way of getting things done, but it's exactly what [Past writers sitting at a table]

founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay did when they wrote the

“Federalist Papers”.

Except their goal was promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution, not candy [Dino discussing the federalist papers]

for dinner.

Huh.

Not to knock the founding fathers or anything, but maybe they were focusing on the wrong

goal…

Anyway, these essays weren't all written at once–– they weren't even initially published

in the same place.

The very first essay was actually printed in October of 1787, with the next 76 other [Essay printed in the Federalist]

essays and articles printed one after another in the Independent Journal and the New York

Packet over the following year.

You heard that right.

77 essays. [Kids in shock in class]

One right after the other.

Makes English class seem like a cinch, huh?

And they weren't even finished.

All of these different essays were then gathered up and, with the addition of eight new ones, [Essays dropping into a hat]

published near the end of 1788 in a single, 85-essay collection called “The Federalist.”

This title made sense, considering “anti-federalists” was a term describing those who opposed the [Coop talking about anti-federalists]

Constitution at the time.

Federalists were ones in support of it – which is exactly what all of these essays were about.

The various papers aimed to address the concerns of the anti-federalists, all in an effort

to prove to them that the Constitution was in fact a good idea.

This included topics such as... [The Federalist book opens]

The powers of the branches of the government

The system of checks and balances

The Dangers of Foreign Force and Influence...

The Advantage of the Union in Respect to Economy and Government

And everyone's favorite topic, taxation! [Hand grabs a dollar from the book]

…Okay, fine, no one's favorite topic, taxation.

All of these ideas were stated in very bold, simple and almost insulting ways.

There was also a specific effort made to instill a fear of what might happen if the Constitution

was not ratified. [People running away from burning building]

Which leads us to the million dollar question…did it work?

Well, in a way, sure.

After all, the Constitution that these papers supported was ratified in 1788 – and it's

one we still have to this day.

But at the same time, it's not quite so clear.

And by that, we mean that there's debate as to whether or not the Federalist Papers themselves [Logs burning and article thrown into fire]

really played much of a part in the ratification, and if that many people really ended up reading

them.

But in any event, whether or not the papers were directly responsible probably didn't

concern Hamilton, Madison and Jay all that much. [Papers in a trash bag]

The Constitution was ratified, and that's a win in their books.

We wonder if any of them suggested pictures…maybe more people would've read it, then… [Hamilton, Jay and Maddison walking]