Primary sourceBook1788
Title Page of The Federalist, First Volume
1788
The title page of the 1788 first volume of The Federalist, a collection of essays co-written by John Jay.
Jay was one of the three authors, writing under the pseudonym Publius, of the essays collected in this volume.
About this source
What it is
This is the title page of the first volume of The Federalist, printed in New York in 1788 by J. and A. McLean. The book collects essays written in favor of the newly proposed U.S. Constitution, agreed upon by the Federal Convention in September 1787.
Why it matters
John Jay, along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, wrote these essays under the shared pseudonym Publius to persuade Americans to support ratifying the Constitution. This title page represents the physical object that carried one of the most influential arguments in early American political thought, connecting Jay directly to the founding debates over the nation's government.
Look closer
- Why might the authors have chosen to publish under a pseudonym instead of their own names?
- What does the title page tell you about who the intended audience for this book was?
- What questions does a title page leave unanswered about the contents of a book?
This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John Jay on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
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