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Book · 1788 · Nonfiction

The Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton and James Madison
Signet Classic · 648 pages
★ 7.3 editorial score

Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote eighty-five essays to sell New York on the Constitution, arguing that a large republic tames factions and that ambition must counteract ambition. Courts still quote them.

Time
1788Depicts American Revolutionary Period

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Other media onSubject·US Constitution
Quote · 1985

“We current Justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as Twentieth Century Americans. We look into the history of the time of framing and to the intervening history of interpretation. But, the ultimate question must be, what do the words of the text mean in our time. For the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but it's in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.”

William J. Brennan, Jr.