Standing the Ground: The Crises of the 1790s and the Philosophies of the <em>Federalist Papers</em>

Abstract

The paper provides a unique outlook on the Federalist Papers, a series of eighty- five essays published in 1788, written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, as it examines the consistency of the philosophies and opinions presented in the Federalist Papers in light of the numerous crises the nation experienced in the 1790s. The paper compares the political belief presented in the Federalist Papers with the actions undertaken by authors during the Whiskey Tax’s enactment in 1791, the Genet Affair’s crisis of 1793, and the implementation of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. Looking at these testing events that called the nation’s foundation into question, it became clear that the authors of the Federalist Papers’ philosophies and ideologies did not evolve in relation to their original arguments made within their essays, and they remained consistent with their political and philosophical beliefs as seen within their essays.