The Online Library of Liberty

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• Editors’ Introduction
• Reader’s Guide to the Federalist
• Preface to the Gideon Edition (1818)
• The Federalist
• No. 1: Introduction
• No. 2: Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force & Influence
• No. 3: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 4: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 5: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 6: Concerning Dangers From War Between the States
• No. 7: The Subject Continued, and Particular Causes Enumerated
• No. 8: The Effects of Internal War In Producing Standing Armies, and Other Institutions Unfriendly to Liberty
• No. 9: The Utility of the Union As a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection
• No. 10: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 11: The Utility of the Union In Respect to Commerce and a Navy
• No. 12: The Utility of the Union In Respect to Revenue
• No. 13: The Same Subject Continued, With a View to Economy
• No. 14: An Objection Drawn From the Extent of Country, Answered
• No. 15: Concerning the Defects of the Present Confederation, In Relation to the Principle of Legislation For the States In Their Collective Capacities
• No. 16: The Same Subject Continued, In Relation to the Same Principles
• No. 17: The Subject Continued, and Illustrated By Examples, to Show the Tendency of Federal Governments, Rather to Anarchy Among the Members, Than Tyranny In the Head
• No. 18 *: the Subject Continued, With Further Examples
• No. 19: The Subject Continued, With Further Examples
• No. 20: The Subject Continued, With Further Examples
• No. 21: Further Defects of the Present Constitution
• No. 22: The Same Subject Continued, and Concluded
• No. 23: The Necessity of a Government, At Least Equally Energetic With the One Proposed
• No. 24: The Subject Continued, With an Answer to an Objection Concerning Standing Armies
• No. 25: The Subject Continued, With the Same View
• No. 26: The Subject Continued With the Same View
• No. 27: The Subject Continued, With the Same View
• No. 28: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 29: Concerning the Militia
• No. 30: Concerning Taxation
• No. 31: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 32: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 33: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 34: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 35: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 36: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 37: Concerning the Difficulties Which the Convention Must Have Experienced In the Formation of a Proper Plan
• No. 38: The Subject Continued, and the Incoherence of the Objections to the Plan, Exposed
• No. 39: The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles: an Objection In Respect to the Powers of the Convention, Examined
• No. 40: The Same Objection Further Examined
• No. 41: General View of the Powers Proposed to Be Vested In the Union
• No. 42: The Same View Continued
• No. 43: The Same View Continued
• No. 44: The Same View Continued and Concluded
• No. 45: A Further Discussion of the Supposed Danger From the Powers of the Union, to the State Governments
• No. 46: The Subject of the Last Paper Resumed; With an Examination of the Comparative Means of Influence of the Federal and State Governments
• No. 47: The Meaning of the Maxim, Which Requires a Separation of the Departments of Power, Examined and Ascertained
• No. 48: The Same Subject Continued, With a View to the Means of Giving Efficacy In Practice to That Maxim
• No. 49: The Same Subject Continued, With the Same View
• No. 50: The Same Subject Continued, With the Same View
• No. 51: The Same Subject Continued, With the Same View, and Concluded
• No. 52: Concerning the House of Representatives, With a View to the Qualifications of the Electors and Elected, and the Time of Service of the Members
• No. 53: The Same Subject Continued, With a View of the Term of Service of the Members
• No. 54: The Same Subject Continued, With a View to the Ratio of Representation
• No. 55: The Same Subject Continued, In Relation to the Total Number of the Body
• No. 56: The Same Subject Continued, In Relation to the Same Point
• No. 57: The Same Subject Continued, In Relation to the Supposed Tendency of the Plan of the Convention to Elevate the Few Above the Many
• No. 58: The Same Subject Continued, In Relation to the Future Augmentation of the Members
• No. 59: Concerning the Regulation of Elections
• No. 60: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 61: The Same Subject Continued, and Concluded
• No. 62: Concerning the Constitution of the Senate, With Regard to the Qualifications of the Members; the Manner of Appointing Them; the Equality of Representation; the Number of the Senators, and the Duration of Their Appointments
• No. 63: A Further View of the Constitution of the Senate, In Regard to the Duration of the Appointment of Its Members
• No. 64: A Further View of the Constitution of the Senate, In Regard to the Power of Making Treaties
• No. 65: A Further View of the Constitution of the Senate, In Relation to Its Capacity, As a Court For the Trial of Impeachments
• No. 66: The Same Subject Continued
• No. 67: Concerning the Constitution of the President: a Gross Attempt to Misrepresent This Part of the Plan Detected
• No. 68: The View of the Constitution of the President Continued, In Relation to the Mode of Appointment
• No. 69: The Same View Continued, With a Comparison Between the President and the King of Great Britain, On the One Hand, and the Governor of New York, On the Other
• No. 70: The Same View Continued, In Relation to the Unity of the Executive, and With an Examination of the Project of an Executive Council
• No. 71: The Same View Continued, In Regard to the Duration of the Office
• No. 72: The Same View Continued, In Regard to the Re-eligibility of the President
• No. 73: The Same View Continued, In Relation to the Provision Concerning Support, and the Power of the Negative
• No. 74: The Same View Continued, In Relation to the Command of the National Forces, and the Power of Pardoning
• No. 75: The Same View Continued, In Relation to the Power of Making Treaties
• No. 76: The Same View Continued, In Relation to the Appointment of the Officers of the Government
• No. 77: The View of the Constitution of the President Concluded, With a Further Consideration of the Power of Appointment, and a Concise Examination of His Remaining Powers
• No. 78: A View of the Constitution of the Judicial Department In Relation to the Tenure of Good Behaviour
• No. 79: A Further View of the Judicial Department, In Relation to the Provisions For the Support and Responsibility of the Judges
• No. 80: A Further View of the Judicial Department, In Relation to the Extent of Its Powers
• No. 81: A Further View of the Judicial Department, In Relation to the Distribution of Its Authority
• No. 82: A Further View of the Judicial Department, In Reference to Some Miscellaneous Questions
• No. 83: A Further View of the Judicial Department, In Relation to the Trial By Jury
• No. 84: Concerning Several Miscellaneous Objections
• No. 85: Conclusion
• Glossary
• Appendixes
• Appendix 1: The Declaration of Independence * In Congress, July 4, 1776
• Appendix 2: Articles of Confederation * March 1, 1781
• Appendix 3: Virginia Resolution Proposing the Annapolis Convention * January 21, 1786
• Appendix 4: Proceedings of the Annapolis Convention *
• Appendix 5: Virginia Resolution Providing For Delegates to the Federal Convention of 1787 * November 23, 1786
• Appendix 6: Call By the Continental Congress For the Federal Convention of 1787 * Wednesday Feby. 21, 1787
• Appendix 7: Resolution of the Federal Convention Submitting the Constitution to the Continental Congress * In Convention Monday September 17th 1787
• Appendix 8: Washington’s Letter of Transmittal to the President of the Continental Congress * In Convention, September 17, 1787
• Appendix 9: Resolution of the Continental Congress Submitting the Constitution to the Several States * Friday Sept 28. 1787
• Appendix 10: Letter of the Secretary of the Continental Congress Transmitting Copy of the Constitution to the Several Governors *
• The Constitution of the United States (cross-referenced With the Federalist ) *
• The Amendments

APPENDIX 5

Virginia Resolution Providing for Delegates to the Federal Convention of 1787*

November 23, 1786

Whereas the Commissrs. who assembled at Annapolis on the 14th. day of Sepr. last for the purpose of devising and reporting the means of enabling Congress to provide effectually for the commercial interests of the U. States, have represented the necessity of extending the revision of the federal System to all its defects, and have recommended that deputies for that purpose be appointed by the several Legislatures to meet in Convention in the city of Philada. on the 2d. Monday of May next; a provision which seems preferable to a discussion of the subject in Congress, where it might be too much interrupted by the ordinary business before them, and where it would besides be deprived of the valuable counsels of sundry individuals who are disqualified by the Constitutions or Laws of particular States, or restrained by peculiar circumstances from a seat in that Assembly: And Whereas the General Assembly of this Commonwealth taking into view the actual situation of the Confederacy, as well as reflecting on the Alarming representations made from time to time by the U. S. in Congress, particularly in their Act of the fifteenth day of Feby. last, can no longer doubt that the crisis is arrived at which the good people of America are to decide the solemn question, whether they will by wise and magnanimous efforts reap the just fruits of that Independence which they have so gloriously acquired, and of that Union which they have cemented with so much of their common blood; or whether by giving way to unmanly jealousies and prejudices, or to partial and transitory interests they will renounce the auspicious blessings prepared for them by the Revolution, and furnish to its enemies an eventual triumph over those by whose virtue & valour it has been accomplished: And Whereas the same noble and extended policy, and the same fraternal & affectionate sentiments which originally determined the Citizens of this Commonwealth to unite with their brethren of the other States in establishing a federal Government, cannot but be felt with equal force now as motives to lay aside every inferior consideration, and to concur in such farther concessions and provisions as may be necessary to secure the great objects for which that Government was instituted, and to render the U. States as happy in peace as they have been glorious in war. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia that seven commissioners be appointed by joint ballot of both Houses of Assembly, who, or any three of them, are hereby authorized as deputies from this Commonwealth to meet such deputies as may be appointed and authorized by other States, to assemble in Convention at Philada. as above recommended: and to join with them in devising and discussing all such alterations and further provisions as may be necessary to render the federal Constitution adequate to the exigenc[i]es of the Union, and in reporting such an act for that purpose to the U. S. in Congress, as when agreed to by them, and duly confirmed by the several States, will effectually provide for the same. And the Governor is requested to transmit forthwith a copy of this Act to the U. S. in Congs. and to the Executives of each of the States in the Union.

And Be it further enacted that in case of the death of any of the sd. deputies, or of their declining their appts. the Executive are hereby authorised to supply such vacancies.

[* ]Source: Robert Rutland and William M. E. Rachal, eds., The Papers of James Madison (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975), 9:163–164.