James Madison: Federalist 51

Impact

Long before New York's delegates met, Antifederalists in the nine states needed for approval had been won over by an agreement to add a bill of rights to the Constitution. However, owing to the state's size and importance as a mercantile center, New York’s support was crucial if the Constitution was to actually be put into effect. Hamilton eventually wore down the opposition, and New York became the eleventh state to ratify. Despite failing to influence many New York voters, the Federalist Papers had a major impact beyond New York. The essays had their greatest impact after they were published in a single volume as The Federalist. Madison mailed hundreds of copies to the Virginia delegation, including the future Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. Leading the debate for ratification, Madison made Virginia the tenth domino to fall, setting the stage for New York's ratification.

The Federalist Papers open a window to the thinking of the Constitution's framers. They have spawned libraries of scholarly commentary and assumed an aura of gravity never intended by the authors. By the year 2000 the papers had been cited a total of 291 times. The number of citations by the Supreme Court has increased with time, especially since 1980. Although the reason is unclear, the shift in the Supreme Court toward “originalists,” who hold that ascertaining the original intent of the framers is paramount in rendering decisions, is a major factor. Perhaps the greatest impact of The Federalist lies in its unchallenged status as the uniquely American contribution to political science on a world scale.