AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind. This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and good men must feel for the event. Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected. The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local institutions, not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little favorable to the discovery of truth. Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new Constitution will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the State establishments; and the perverted ambition of another class of men, who will either hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of their country, or will flatter themselves with fairer prospects of elevation from the subdivision of the empire into several partial confederacies than from its union under one government.

Now introduced by eminent civil libertarian, constitutional scholar, and New York Times bestselling author Alan Dershowitz, The Federalist Papers are a must-have for all scholars of history and government and all Americans. Widely considered to be among the most important historical collections of all time, The Federalist Papers were intended to persuade New York at-large delegates to the Constitutional Convention to accept the newly drafted Constitution in 1787. Authored in parts by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, together as the pseudonym of Publius, the documents have been referred to and heavily cited countless times in all aspects of American government and politics. Together, the eighty-five Federalist essays stand among the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, Common Sense, and other work by the Founding Fathers that helped build and solidify the foundation of American democracy. With its rich history and a new introduction from Alan Dershowitz, one of the most prominent legal minds in the country, The Federalist Papers will educate you on the groundwork that shaped the greatest country in the world.

The Federalist Papers, originally written and published during 1787 and 1788 in several New York State newspapers, intended to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. They were widely read and respected for their masterly analysis and interpretation of the Constitution and constitutional principles upon which the government of the United States was established. This influential collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay remains to this day a treasured historical document for anyone who wants to understand the U.S. Constitution.

The Federalist Papers' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788.