Federalist, The, is a series of 85 letters that urged ratification of the United States Constitution. The letters were written to newspapers by the American statesmen Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The letters sought primarily to influence the New York ratifying convention, and they were printed in several New York newspapers. All except eight essays appeared in 1787 and 1788 under the signature "Publius." Hamilton wrote 51 of the essays, Madison 29, and Jay 5. The collected essays appeared in book form as The Federalist.