Character guide

Publius

major

Also known as Publius IX The Union, the Union

Publius is less a man than a chorus: three founders writing as one calm, urgent voice to New York's skeptical public, insisting that the people have always thought right about the Union. The tension is baked into the enterprise — a pseudonym must sound like a single mind while concealing three, and must persuade a wary readership without revealing whose interests are at stake. In the early papers, Publius stakes everything on a single claim: that safety and peace abroad depend on a cordial Union, and that disunion invites the world's wars.

Alexander Hamilton

major

Also known as Hamilton, Colonel Hamilton, Alexander, the Present Confederation Hamilton, Members Hamilton, the Executive Hamilton

Hamilton is the project's engine and its most relentless advocate, the man who recruited co-authors, set the pace, and later forbade anyone from altering a word of the original text. His distinctive tension is between conviction and control: he wants the argument to stand as written, as if the essays themselves were a kind of constitutional precedent. In the early and middle papers he presses hardest on executive power, appointments, and the machinery that makes a government actually govern, shaping the arc from diagnosis of confederation's failures toward the design of a working Union.

James Madison

major

Also known as Mr. Madison, Madison

Madison is the quiet architect among the three, the one whose later edits to his own essays became a small controversy over which words truly belong to history. His tension is textual and temperamental: he revised in 1818 what he had written in 1787, leaving editors to argue whether the argument or the author's second thoughts should stand. In the early–middle arc he matters because the essays' deepest claims — that a large republic can tame faction and that institutions must check one another — are largely his, giving Publius its theoretical spine.

John Jay

major

Also known as Mr. Jay, Jay

Jay brings the perspective of a man who has negotiated treaties and knows how easily a divided America could be played against itself by maritime powers. His distinctive contribution is the argument from safety: that the just causes of war multiply for disunited states, and that a cordial Union is the best security a free people can devise. He matters most in the opening papers, where he frames the stakes — peace or perpetual jeopardy — before Hamilton and Madison turn to the machinery of government.

Congress

supporting

Congress is the foil against which Publius measures the proposed Constitution: a body that votes by states, loses votes when a single member is absent, and rarely musters more voices than the intended Senate would. Its flaw is structural rather than personal — it lacks the powers and the individual voting that would let it act with energy and responsibility. In the early–middle papers it matters as the living proof that the present Confederation cannot secure the Union, making the case for replacement feel urgent rather than abstract.

The Senate

supporting

Also known as Senate

The Senate is where Publius works out the delicate partnership between a single executive and a select assembly, especially over treaties and appointments. The tension is between size and capability: too few members and it cannot represent a growing nation, too many and it becomes unfit for the trust. In the middle papers it matters because the argument for the Constitution's competence — that it can choose good officers and conduct foreign policy wisely — rests on the Senate's design and its cooperation with the president.

The Judges

supporting

Also known as judges

In the world of Publius, the judges are the quiet third power: no army, no purse, only judgment, yet charged with holding statutes and states to the written frame. Their independence is the point and the problem — lifetime tenure shields them from popular pressure, which is exactly what makes Anti-Federalist readers fear them. Hamilton's argument for judicial review in these pages gives the early-middle arc its sharpest constitutional hinge, and the edition's own history shows how much weight such interpretation was meant to carry.

Montesquieu

minor

Also known as The celebrated Montesquieu

French political philosopher whose ideas on separation of powers are frequently cited.

Philip of Macedon

minor

Also known as Philip, Macedon

Ancient king of Macedon, cited as an example of military and political ambition.

Solon

minor

Athenian statesman and lawgiver, referenced as a historical example of constitutional reform.

Lycurgus

minor

Legendary Spartan lawgiver, cited for his strict constitutional and military system.

Charles II

minor

Also known as Charles I

English monarchs referenced in discussions of executive power and historical precedents.

Louis XIV

minor

French king known for absolute monarchy, cited as a warning against concentrated power.

Charlemagne

minor

Medieval emperor of the Franks, referenced as an example of large-scale governance.

Brutus

minor

Roman senator and assassin of Julius Caesar, cited in discussions of republican virtue.

Cleomenes

minor

Spartan king referenced in historical examples of confederacies and military leadership.

The Amphictyons

minor

Also known as the Amphictyons

Ancient Greek religious council, cited as an early example of a confederate league.

The Achaeans

minor

Also known as the Achaeans

Ancient Greek confederation, referenced as a model for federal union.

The Lacedaemonians

minor

Also known as the Lacedaemonians

Spartans, cited for their military-focused society and dual kingship system.

The Indians

minor

Also known as Indians

Native American tribes referenced in discussions of confederacies and foreign relations.

Robert R. Livingston

minor

Also known as Robert R. Livingston⁠—firm and patriotic

American statesman and jurist, mentioned in the context of the Constitutional Convention.

Mr. Dawson

minor

Also known as Dawson

A figure referenced in the papers, likely a historical or contemporary political actor.

The Earl of Chesterfield

minor

British statesman and wit, quoted on political prudence and governance.

The Judicious Blackstone

minor

English jurist William Blackstone, cited for his commentaries on law and government.

Thomas Jefferson

minor

Also known as Mr. Jefferson

Founding Father and future president, referenced in discussions of constitutional principles.

McClean

minor

Publisher or printer of the first collected edition of The Federalist Papers.