The Essential Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers

Though tough to wade thru due to the language and sometimes lost meanings, this book is great. It opened my eyes to how involved the general population was in our government. The fight that went on to fine tune our great Constitution is laid out in these papers to the people. If you read the Constitution and Bill of Rights along with it, you can see the influences these great men had on our governing documents. This should be required reading in our schools along with the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendments and the Declaration of Independence. The insight of these men is astounding, as is the lack of insight in our current culture. Read it for yourself, then teach it as you can.

This series of essays was extremely helpful in continuing to develop my understanding of our Constitution and the founding of our Country. As to the various editions of the Federalist Papers, I'm glad I purchased this one since it presented both the Anti-Federalist and the Federalist viewpoints. Knowing what we know today about how our government works, it was fascinating to read what people like Hamilton, Madison, and Patrick Henry thought would be the outcome of the adoption of our Constitution. It is remarkable how right they were in some places and how wrong in others. If you want to boost you citizenship IQ, give this a read.

All Americans need to read this. Here lies the foundation. Our Founding Fathers had it right (and what beautiful English!)

Among the significant documents of American history, few hold such a high degree of significance as the FEDERALIST PAPERS, constructed by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. There is an endless list of books written on the Federalist Papers of which to choose from, however, the Anti-Federalist side of the argument has, for the most part, been ignored among American historians, and I know of no other volume that gives the reader a better opportunity to examine both sides of the argument together. THE ESSENTIAL FEDERALIST AND ANTI-FEDERALIST PAPERS, edited by David Wootton, presents both sides of the argument for the reader's examination. Wootton provides documents defending each argument beginning with the historical sources, such as Blackstone's COMMENTARIES, used to construct the Constitution. Seven antifederalist voices follow, beginning with George Mason's broadside and concluding with four of Judge Robert Yates' ESSAYS OF BRUTUS. This book serves a long overdue purpose, however, is not without fault. I'm sure, for brevity's sake, Wootton has included only 33 of the Federalist Papers (the original 33 which appeared in the New York newspapers, none of the later 52 papers which appeared in book form). My biggest disappointment in the book, however, is that the Federalist and Anti-Federalist arguments are separated rather than in chronological order. This would have made it much easier to comprehend what was being said in that, many of the arguments were responses to previous arguments from the opposition. The book concludes with a selection of Constitutional documents. The Articles of Confederation, Madison and Edmund Randolph's Virginia Plan, and the Constitution-together with the first ten amendments-finish the volume, which also features a detailed index. Even though there were a few things I did not like about this book, if your goal is to research both sides of the Federalist/Anti-Federalist argument, this is a terrific source and will save you countless hours of research. Monty Rainey www.juntosociety.com