18th Century Bonus Content - The Federalist Takes a Break
Following Federalist #77, Publis took a two month hiatus between papers.
Rapid Publication
For the past 77 weeks I have published a review of each Federalist Paper in its order of publication.
This week, I am going to do what the Federalist did...take a break.
From October 1787 thru April 1788, Publis (the pseudonym of Hamilton, Madison and Jay) published essays several days a week. On occasion, it was more than one a day!
Then, suddenly, they stopped...only to reappear in the papers two and a half months later.
Today we explore why.
Volume 1
The original printings of the Federalist Papers were individually in New York newspapers.
They were so popular that in January of 1788 the rights to publish them were sold.
On March 22 of that year the M’Lean Brother (sometimes called J.&A. McLean) published The Federalist Volume 1.
This collection included the first 36 Federalist articles.
Volume 2
On April 2, Federalist #77 was published.
Then, they stopped.
The public did not hear from Public again for almost two months.
Finally, on May 28, The Federalist Volume 2 was released.
This edition included Papers #37-#77.
18th Century Bonus Content
But wait, there's more!
The second volume also included the unreleased Papers #78-#85.
This ‘bonus’ material was a selling point for the rest of the collection. If you wanted to learn about the Justice Department, you had to buy the book.
Well, for a while anyway. Two weeks later #78 appeared in the newspapers.
The final eight essays were published periodically throughout the rest of the summer. Keep in mind, the goal of the authors was to get information out there and ratify the Constitution.
Making some extra cash was just an added reward.
Would you like to learn about the Justice Department?
Well, I’ll be reviewing the rest of the Federalist Papers in the coming weeks so make sure you subscribe to my email list.
Until then, check out the list of previous Papers here:
