On October 27, 1787 a New York newspaper published the very first article of a collection of essays that appeared under the pen name "Publius."
These anonymously written essays were a product of the New York Constitution ratification debates, but they also appeared in newspapers in other states. It was later discovered that James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton were the authors of what became popularly embraced as the Federalist Papers. The series continued through May 1788, by which time a total of 85 articles had been published!
|