The Federalist

Publius (pseudonym for James Madison)
The Federalist. No. X
in the New York Daily Advertiser
Page 2
(November 22, 1787)
Serial and Government
Publications Division (6.7a,b)

In the ensuing debate over adoption of the Constitution, James Madison teamed with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay of New York to write a masterful dissection and analysis of the system of government presented in the Constitution. The eighty-five Federalist articles were originally published in the daily newspapers in New York City as arguments aimed at the anti-Federal forces in that state, but their intended scope was far larger. James Madison's Federalist no. 10 is one of the most important and enduring statements of American political theory. Its reasoned statement explains what an expanding nation might do if it accepted the basic premise of majority rule, a balanced government of three separate branches, and a commitment to balance all the diverse interests through a system of checks and balances.