When the Constitutional Convention adjourned on September 17, 1787, the work of supporters of the new federal Constitution had only begun. The document had to be ratified by at least nine of the thirteen states, as stipulated in the agreed-upon ratification process. Within days of the convention’s end, anti-Federalist editorials began appearing in newspapers, opposing ratification of the Constitution. To gain the necessary support for ratification in New York, and to influence the debate nationally, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote a series of eighty-five articles in favor of the proposed Constitution.
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