85 Essays on our Constitution

The Federalist Papers were a collection of 85 essays about the US Constitution, written during 1787 – 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Many of these essays were written under the allonym (alias) of "Publius" in honor of the role that Publius Valerius Publicola played in establishing the Roman Republic; in particular, Publius’ active engagement on behalf of "citizen protections".

The Federalist papers were published for public consumption, during – and shortly afterward – the "Philadelphia Convention" (May 25 – September 17, 1787), also known as the "Constitutional Convention" which, as we all know now, resulted in our US Constitution.

Our Constitution was completed on September 17, 1787 and took effect on March 4^th, 1789.

James Madison was arguably the most influential figure during this period. Many consider him to be the "Father of Our Constitution". And, in fact, Madison went on to become our fourth President (1809-1817).

As you read through the Federalist papers, you will see some reference to "Publius" at the end of certain papers. Therefore, you might be interested in a short "bio" of this man called "Publius".

Publius Valerius Publicola (or Poplicola, his surname meaning “friend of the people”) (- 503 BC) was a Roman consul, the colleague of Lucius Junius Brutus in 509 BC, traditionally considered the first year of the Roman Republic. According to Livy and Plutarch, his family, whose ancestor Volusus had settled in Rome at the time of King Titus Tatius, was of Sabine origin. He took a prominent part in the expulsion of the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and though not originally chosen as the colleague of Brutus he soon took the place of Tarquinius Collatinus.

On the death of Brutus, which left him sole consul, the people began to fear that he was aiming at kingly power. To calm their apprehensions he discontinued the building of his house on the top of the Velian Hill, and also gave orders that the fasces should be lowered whenever he appeared before the people. He further introduced two laws to protect the liberties of the citizens, one enacting that whosoever should attempt to make himself a king might be slain by any man at any time, while another provided an appeal to the people on behalf of any citizen condemned by a magistrate. He died in 503 BC, and was buried at the public expense, the matrons mourning him for ten months.