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2 - John Jay, The Federalist, and the Constitution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2020

Jack N. Rakove
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
Colleen A. Sheehan
Affiliation:
Villanova University, Pennsylvania
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Summary

On October 22, 1787, five days before the appearance of the first Federalist paper, John and Sarah Jay hosted a dinner party in New York City whose guests included Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Hamilton had recently returned from Albany, where he had pled before the state supreme court, while Madison was attending the moribund Continental Congress. John Jay’s hosting duties represented the social side of his official role as secretary for foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation, but on this occasion his guests were all men of affairs, and politics could hardly be avoided in the charged atmosphere created by the recently proposed Constitution. While it is tempting to picture Jay, Hamilton, and Madison – the future Publius – finalizing their plans over Madeira and rum punch, the secrecy of the project makes it unlikely that it was openly discussed.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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