Books by Alexander Hamilton

Little is known of Captain Alexander Hamilton (b. before 1688, d. around 1733) other than what he tells us in this lively and compelling travelogue. First published in 1727, his invaluable historical and geographical picture of south-east Asia between 1688 and 1723 is spiced with tales of piracy and poisoning.

Originally published anonymously, The Federalist Papers first appeared in 1787 as a series of letters to New York newspapers exhorting voters to ratify the proposed Constitution of the United States. Still hotly debated, and open to often controversial interpretations, the arguments first presented here by three of America’s greatest patriots and political theorists were created during a critical moment in our nation’s history, providing readers with a running ideological commentary on the crucial issues facing democracy.Today The Federalist Papers are as important and vital a rallying cry for freedom as ever.This edition features the original eighteenth-century text, with James Madison’s fascinating marginal notations, as well as a complete text of the Constitution.

These essays on the Constitution were written by busy men in the midst of an active public and professional life, written with immense haste, and without proper time for consultation.

The Federalist Papers comprise eighty-five essays written to persuade New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution of the United States in 1787-8. Written by key players in the American Revolution, they made a case for a new, united nation. They are the most important work of political thought to have come out of America.

The Federalist represents one side of one of the most momentous political debates ever conducted: whether to ratify, or to reject, the newly-drafted American constitution. To understand the debate properly requires attention to opposing Antifederalist arguments against the Constitution, and this new and authoritative student-friendly edition presents in full all eighty-five Federalist papers written by the pseudonymous 'Publius' (Hamilton, Madison, and Jay), along with the sixteen letters of 'Brutus', the prominent but still unknown New York Antifederalist who was Publius's most formidable foe. Each is systematically cross-referenced to the other, and both to the appended Articles of Confederation and US Constitution, making the reader acutely aware of the cut-and-thrust of debate in progress. The distinguished political theorist Terence Ball provides all of the standard series editorial features, including brief biographies and notes for further reading, making this the most accessible rendition ever of a classic of political thought in action.

Written at a time when furious arguments were raging about the best way to govern America, The Federalist Papers had the immediate pratical aim of persuading New Yorkers to accept the newly drafted Constitution in 1787. In this they were supremely successful, but their influence also transcended contemporary debate to win them a lasting place in discussions of American political theory. Acclaimed by Thomas Jefferson as 'the best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written', The Federalist Papers make a powerful case for power-sharing between State and Federal authorities and for a Constitution that has endured largely unchanged for two hundred years.