HAMILTON, MADISON... AND PUBLIUS?
TODAY WE'RE GONNA BE TALKING ABOUT THE FEDERALIST PAPERS.
TELL ME WHAT THE FEDERALIST PAPERS WERE.
THE FEDERALIST PAPERS WERE A SERIES OF ARTICLES
THAT WERE WRITTEN IN DEFENSE OR IN SUPPORT
OF PASSING OR RATIFYING THE CONSTITUTION.
AND THEY WERE PUBLISHED ANONYMOUSLY
OR UNDER A PEN NAME; IS THAT RIGHT?
IN ORDER TO ACTUALLY AVOID HAVING ANY DISCUSSION
OF PARTISANSHIP OR, MORE IMPORTANTLY,
IDENTIFYING WITH INDIVIDUALS, THEY WERE ALL SIGNED "PUBLIUS."
WHEN IT CAME OUT AS A BOOK IN 1788,
THERE WERE 85 FEDERALIST, WHICH IS A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS.
THESE WERE TO HELP CONVINCE NEW YORK STATE
TO RATIFY THE CONSTITUTION,
OR WAS IT FOR MORE THAN ONE STATE?
LARGELY, THEIR IMPACT IS IN NEW YORK.
THEY APPEARED FIRST IN PAPER.
BY THE TIME VIRGINIA IS VOTING,
THERE ARE OTHER ISSUES THAT PLAY OUT,
FOR EXAMPLE, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS,
GEORGE WASHINGTON ALREADY SUPPORTED THE PASSING
AND RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.
JEFFERSON, ON THE OTHER HAND,
WHO IS NOT PART OF THE ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION OF THESE ESSAYS,
TALKS ABOUT THE FEDERALIST PAPERS BEING
ONE OF THE GREAT POLITICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE CENTURY
IN TERMS OF ITS CLARITY
AND HOW IT OUTLINES THE ARGUMENTS
IN FAVOR OF THE CONSTITUTION.
NOW, THE COPY I'M HOLDING IS A LITTLE UNUSUAL.
THIS IS A 1788 PRINTING, BUT IT'S A THIRDHAND COPY.
HAMILTON IS THE INSTIGATOR OF THESE ESSAYS.
HE BRINGS IN JAY AND MADISON TO HELP HIM ROUND THEM OUT.
IT'S LARGELY HAMILTON AND MADISON
WHO WRITE THE ESSAYS.
BUT ELIZABETH HAMILTON MAKES SURE
THAT THOMAS JEFFERSON GETS A COPY BY GIVING HIM THIS.
SO WE'RE HOLDING AND LOOKING AT THOMAS JEFFERSON'S COPY
OF THE FEDERALIST PAPERS.
THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE HOLDING RIGHT NOW?
ABSOLUTELY, AND EVEN BETTER: THOMAS JEFFERSON,
WHO RARELY EVER WROTE IN HIS BOOKS,
PLAYED THE PARLOR GAME
THAT EVERYONE ELSE IN COLONIAL AMERICA WAS PLAYING;
THAT IS, "WHO WROTE WHICH ESSAY?"
NUMBER 2, 3, 4, 5, AND 64 ARE BY MR. JAY.
AND THEN A VERY LONG STRING OF NUMBERS BY MR. MADISON.
AND THE REST ARE BY ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
THOMAS JEFFERSON WROTE THAT?  THOMAS JEFFERSON WROTE THAT.
AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WE ALSO HAPPEN TO HAVE
MADISON'S COPY...
NOW YOU'RE JUST SHOWING OFF.  OF THE FEDERALIST PAPERS.
BUT IT'S VERY INTERESTING, BECAUSE THE TWO MEN DON'T AGREE.
MADISON HAS ALSO GONE THROUGH AND ANNOTATED
EACH OF THE ESSAYS HERE WITH THE INITIAL.
THIS IS NUMBER NINE.
"A.H." ALEXANDER HAMILTON, I'M GONNA GUESS.
EXACTLY.
SO THERE WERE ABOUT 12 ESSAYS THAT WERE IN DISPUTE
FOR QUITE SOME TIME.
THERE ARE STILL TWO, I THINK,
THAT ARE NOT QUITE DETERMINED AS TO WHO AUTHORED THEM.
YOU'LL NOTICE, AT THE FRONT OF THE MADISON COPY,
THERE IS A TICKET FROM A CIRCULATING LIBRARY.
IT SAYS HERE, "WASHINGTON LIBRARY,
"TO BE RETURNED WITHIN SEVEN DAYS WITHOUT INJURY
UNDER A PENALTY OF 15 FOR EVERY LIBRARY DAY OVER."
[laughs]
I'M MARK DIMUNATION,
CHIEF OF THE RARE BOOK AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION
HERE AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.