Federalist No. 1

Federalist No. 1 (Federalist Number 1) is an essay by Alexander Hamilton, which became the first of a collection of essays named The Federalist. It was published on October 27, 1787 under the pseudonym Publius. This paper provides the outline for the rest and argues for the inadequacy of the Articles of Confederation.

Federalist No. 1 introduces a series of essays published in the Independent Journal, the New-York Packet and the Daily Advertiser as a response to Anti-Federalist opposition to the proposed US Constitution. After the Constitutional Convention of 1787 the new Constitution was sent to the various states for ratification in September 1787. Anti-Federalists essays condemning the document began to surface later that month, quickly followed by the Federalist efforts of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

The essay is highly critical of the government in place at the time, though, it does not take the form of a diatribe. Eloquently written, yet manifestly biased, Federalist No. 1 heaps praise upon the Constitution as an efficient system of government. Hamilton is quite aware of his own bias:

You will, no doubt, at the same time, have collected from the general scope of them, that [these ideas] proceed from a source not unfriendly to the new Constitution. Yes, my countrymen, I own to you that, after having given it an attentive consideration, I am clearly of opinion it is your interest to adopt it.

Hamilton is keenly aware not only of his own bias, but also those of others. In fact, Federalist No. 1, as an introductory essay, can be interpreted mainly as an attempt to impress upon readers that opinions will always contain bias when it comes to important matters such as this. Hamilton writes:

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.

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