The Federalist (kelak disebut The FederalistPapers) adalah kumpulan 85 artikel dan esai yang ditulis (di bawah nama samaran Publius) oleh Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, dan John Jay yang mendukung ratifikasiKonstitusi Amerika Serikat. 77 artikel diterbitkan secara berseri di The Independent Journal dan The New York Packet antara Oktober 1787 dan Agustus 1788. 77 artikel tersebut dan 8 artikel lainnya dengan judul The Federalist; or, The New Constitution diterbitkan dalam dua volume pada tahun 1788 oleh J. dan A. McLean.[1] Judul aslinya adalah The Federalist; judul The Federalist Papers baru muncul pada abad ke-20.
Meski para penulis The Federalist Papers hendak memengaruhi pemegang hak suara agar mendukung ratifikasi Konstitusi, mereka merumuskan perdebatannya secara luas dari sudut pandang politik dalam Federalist No. 1:
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.[2]
Highlights abound in the essays of The Federalist. Dalam Federalist No. 10, Madison membahas cara mencegah faksi mayoritas penguasa dan mendukunng republik besar yang komersial. Federalist No. 10 umumnya diakui sebagai artikel terpenting dari 85 artikel Federalis dari sudut pandang filsafat. Artikel ini dilengkapi oleh Federalist No. 14; Madison menggambarkan ukuran Amerika Serikat dan menganggapnya cocok untuk dijadikan republik besar. Selain itu, Madison juga mempertahankan kreativitas konstitusi dan politik Konvensi Federal.[3] Dalam Federalist No. 84, Hamilton menyatakan bahwa Konstitusi tidak perlu diamendemen dengan menambahkan Deklarasi Hak dan bahwa berbagai pasal dalam Konstitusi yang melindungi kebebasan sudah setara dengan "deklarasi hak". Federalist No. 78, juga ditulis oleh Hamilton, menjadi dasar doktrin peninjauan yudisial undang-undang federal atau keputusan presiden oleh pengadilan federal. Federalist No. 70 menjelaskan alasan Amerika Serikat perlu dipimpin seorang kepala eksekutif. Dalam Federalist No. 39, Madison memaparkan penjelasannya tentang "Federalisme". Dalam Federalist No. 51, Madison mengutarakan pemeriksaan dan penyeimbangan (checks and balances) lewat sebuah esai yang sering dikutip karena menyebut pemerintah sebagai "cerminan terbaik sifat manusia."
Menurut sejarawan Richard B. Morris, The Federalist Papers adalah "pembahasan Konstitusi yang tiada bandingnya, sebuah karya klasik dalam ilmu politik yang tidak dapat ditandingi kekayaan dan kedalamannya oleh penulis manapun di Amerika Serikat."[4]
^Richard B. Morris, The Forging of the Union: 1781-1789 (1987) p. 309
^ abcNos. 18, 19, 20 are frequently indicated as being jointly written by Hamilton and Madison. However, Adair concurs with previous historians that these are Madison's writing alone: "Madison had certainly written all of the essays himself, including in revised form only a small amount of pertinent information submitted by Hamilton from his rather sketchy research on the same subject." Adair, 63.
^ abcdefghijklOne of twelve "disputed papers" to which both Madison and Hamilton laid claim. Modern scholarly consensus leans towards Madison as the author of all twelve, and he is so credited in this table. See Federalist Papers: Disputed essays. See Adair, 93: "The disputed numbers of The Federalist claimed by both Hamilton and Madison are Numbers 49 through 58 and Numbers 62 and 63.
Referensi
Adair, Douglass. Fame and the Founding Fathers. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1974.A collection of essays; that used here is "The Disputed Federalist Papers".
Frederick Mosteller and David L. Wallace. Inference and Disputed Authorship: The Federalist. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1964.
Furtwangler, Albert. The Authority of Publius: A Reading of the Federalist Papers. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1984.
Wills, Gary. Explaining America: The Federalist, Garden City, NJ: 1981.
Bacaan lanjutan
Meyerson, Michael I. Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist Papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World, New York: Basic Books, 2008.
Dietze, Gottfried. The Federalist: A Classic on Federalism and Free Government, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1960.
Epstein, David F. The Political Theory of the Federalist, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Gray, Leslie, and Wynell Burroughs. "Teaching With Documents: Ratification of the Constitution", Social Education, 51 (1987): 322-324.
Kesler, Charles R.Saving the Revolution: The Federalist Papers and the American Founding, New York: 1987.
Patrick, John J., and Clair W. Keller. Lessons on the Federalist Papers: Supplements to High School Courses in American History, Government and Civics, Bloomington, IN: Organization of American Historians in association with ERIC/ChESS, 1987. ED 280 764.
Schechter, Stephen L. Teaching about American Federal Democracy, Philadelphia: Center for the Study of Federalism at Temple University, 1984. ED 248 161.
Scott, Kyle. The Federalist Papers: A Reader’s Guide (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013) 202 pp.
Sunstein, Cass R. The Enlarged Republic—Then and Now, New York Review of Books, (March 26, 2009): Volume LVI, Number 5, 45. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22453
Webster, Mary E. The Federalist Papers: In Modern Language Indexed for Today's Political Issues. Bellevue, WA.: Merril Press, 1999.
White, Morton.Philosophy, The Federalist, and the Constitution, New York: 1987.
Zebra Edition. The Federalist Papers: (Or, How Government is Supposed to Work), Edited for Readability. Oakesdale, WA: Lucky Zebra Press, 2007.