THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE FEDERALIST
The Federalist is universally regarded as the most important contribution of our country to political science, and yet, although some twenty-five editions of it have been published, the authorship of twelve important numbers, about one-seventh of the whole, is still undetermined, and in the opinion of Mr. Lodge, the latest critical editor, must remain so. The authorship of three other numbers, 18, 19, and 20, earlier in dispute, Mr. Lodge believes to be satisfactorily settled. The remaining twelve numbers, 49-58, 62, and 63, are attributed to Hamilton in the so-called Hamilton lists, and to Madison in the Madison lists. Madison never wavered in the assertion that he was the author of them, and although the Madison lists differ from each other in regard to a few other numbers, they uniformly assign these numbers to Madison. Mr. Lodge, although the weight of testimony is, in his view, favorable to Hamilton, declares that he "is not even yet completely satisfied "that Nos. 49-58 are not from Madison's pen. In regard to Nos. 62 and 63 he has "very little doubt," thinking they both belong to Hamilton.[1]
Mr. Lodge concludes: "No one is entitled to assign the disputed numbers to either Hamilton or Madison with absolute confidence. They were surely written by one or the other, and with that unsatisfactory certainty we must fain be content."
The case, in brief, is one where the external evidence is conflicting, and where, hitherto, conclusions have been reached largely in accordance with the predilections of the
- ↑ See Lodge's The Federalist, Introduction, for a presentation of the external evidence. All references are to Lodge's edition unless another is mentioned.
