Annotations This book is unique because it contains a literary criticism that was made by Juan AcevedoThe Federalist, later known as The Federalist Papers, is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton (under the pseudonym Publius), James Madison, and John Jay, who promote ratification of the Constitution of the United States. 77 of these essays were serialized in The Independent Journal (The Independent Magazine) and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788. A compilation of these and eight other essays, called The Federalist or The New Constitution, were published in two volumes in 1788 by A. McLean. [1] The original title of the collection was The Federalist; The title The Federalist Papers did not emerge until the 20th century.The federal convention sent the proposed constitution to the confederal congress which sent it to the state legislatures to be approved by the end of September 1787. In September 1787, "Cato" appeared in the New York press criticizing the proposal. "Brutus" continued the discussion on October 18, 1787. These and other criticisms of the new Constitution came together and became known as the "Anti-Federalist Essays." In response, Alexander Hamilton decided to undertake a project where he would direct a series of explanations to the citizens of New York with which he would defend every criticism raised against the Constitution. He wrote The Federalist No. 1 (The Federalist Number 1) and in this essay he explained the purpose for which the people should pay attention to both sides of the debate. He also wrote that his purpose was "to strive to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections that have made an appearance, which have demanded his attention."Hamilton recruited assistants, notably John Jay who, after writing 4 strong essays, (Federalist No. 2, 3, 4, and 5) became ill and could only write one final essay, Federalist No. 64 (The Federalist Number 64).At the time of publication, the authorship of the articles was a well-kept secret. However, many astute readers were able to identify the writing styles of Hamilton, Madison and Jay. After Hamilton's death in 1804, a list he had written assigning two thirds of the essays was published, including some essays that were considered Madison's (49-58, 62, 63). In 1944, the academic work of Douglass Adair in 1944 identified the authors of the essays and was later corroborated by a computer program in 1964 as follows: