A_G, I have the utmost respect for your knowledge on Constitutional matters but my book says :"The Federalist consist of 85 essays that originally appeared in several New York newspapers between the autumn of 1787 and the spring of 1788".
It sez several news papers so if that is wrong, you need to give me a reference or two.
It sez several news papers so if that is wrong, you need to give me a reference or two.
Sorry, you are absolutely right, My apologies for my own mis-impressions and thank you for the correction. Keeps me on my toes and humble. Kick my-self in the rear a couple of times again, to make sure I check everything and allow no assumptions.
Just goes to show that everyone has preconceived ideas that foster laziness and get in the way of solid scholarship, I should have looked closer at their origins rather than just reading the essays. I was under the impression from somewhere, that one of the papers that participated in the series of essays was called the "Federalist" from whence the name was derived. Unfortunately, relying on that faulty impression, led me astray.
Knowing that the Constitution is by no means a "Federal" institution by operation today or even back then, I never bothered to really read about who actually published the original essays. There are really very few areas in which the National government acts in a FEDERAL mode, The national govenment does not operate by dictating to states by authority of law (i.e. a FEDERAL government) so much as it hooks them with tax dollars and threatens to take away grants to states when they don't to the line. Its authorities are much more oriented to the individual than a classical "Federal" government would be as was clearly pointed out by Madison and can be seen in actual statutes on the books which act on individuals & "persons" as opposed to State governments.
Here is an official statement of the origins of the Federalist Papers.
The Federalist, commonly referred to as the Federalist Papers, is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788. The essays were published anonymously, under the pen name "Publius," in various New York state newspapers of the time.
The Federalist Papers were written and published to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. In lobbying for adoption of the Constitution over the existing Articles of Confederation, the essays explain particular provisions of the Constitution in detail. For this reason, and because Hamilton and Madison were each members of the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist Papers are often used today to help interpret the intentions of those drafting the Constitution.
The Federalist Papers were published primarily in two New York state newspapers: The New York Packet and The Independent Journal. They were reprinted in other newspapers in New York state and in several cities in other states. A bound edition, with revisions and corrections by Hamilton, was published in 1788 by printers J. and A. McLean. An edition published by printer Jacob Gideon in 1818, with revisions and corrections by Madison, was the first to identify each essay by its author's name. Because of its publishing history, the assignment of authorship, numbering, and exact wording may vary with different editions of The Federalist.
You are indeed correct, even more so as neither of the original New York papers in which the Essays appeared had a name even remotely related to "Federalist".