Publius Reconsidered: A New and Comprehensive Reading of "The Federalist"

FAIN: FEJ-309509-25

Jeffrey James Polet
Unaffiliated Independent Scholar (Wyoming, MI 49418-9777)

Research and writing of a book on the Federalist Papers, placing them in their historical and political context.

Secondary authors often fail to place The Federalist back in its dramatic context: both with regard to debates over ratification and in response to Anti-federalist arguments critical of the Constitution. The Anti-federalists, firing the first shots, prompted Publius’ informed essays, and that back-and-forth provides the framework for my interpretation of The Federalist. The proposed work accomplishes two things: it provides readers with an essay by essay analysis of all 85 Federalist Papers, and it deepens the readers’ sense of the historical context and debates surrounding adoption of the Constitution. Only by placing The Federalist in its dramatic context can we properly understand the underlying issues that resonate in American politics to this day.