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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Have you ever wanted something so much, but your parents said no? [Car drives by]

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And no matter how much you begged and pleaded, they wouldn't budge?

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Well, we've got a new method for you to try. [Boy begging and parents saying no while driving]

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We call it: writing a collection of essays to try and convince them!

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…We're working on the name.

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But maybe you'd call the collection...

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“Candy: It's What Should Be For Dinner”

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or maybe…

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“The Playstation Papers: Why Every House Needs One”

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Okay so maybe that sounds like a silly way of getting things done, but it's exactly what [Past writers sitting at a table]

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founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay did when they wrote the

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“Federalist Papers”.

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Except their goal was promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution, not candy [Dino discussing the federalist papers]

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for dinner.

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Huh.

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Not to knock the founding fathers or anything, but maybe they were focusing on the wrong

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goal…

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Anyway, these essays weren't all written at once–– they weren't even initially published

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in the same place.

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The very first essay was actually printed in October of 1787, with the next 76 other [Essay printed in the Federalist]

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essays and articles printed one after another in the Independent Journal and the New York

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Packet over the following year.

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You heard that right.

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77 essays. [Kids in shock in class]

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One right after the other.

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Makes English class seem like a cinch, huh?

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And they weren't even finished.

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All of these different essays were then gathered up and, with the addition of eight new ones, [Essays dropping into a hat]

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published near the end of 1788 in a single, 85-essay collection called “The Federalist.”

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This title made sense, considering “anti-federalists” was a term describing those who opposed the [Coop talking about anti-federalists]

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Constitution at the time.

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Federalists were ones in support of it – which is exactly what all of these essays were about.

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The various papers aimed to address the concerns of the anti-federalists, all in an effort

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to prove to them that the Constitution was in fact a good idea.

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This included topics such as... [The Federalist book opens]

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The powers of the branches of the government

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The system of checks and balances

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The Dangers of Foreign Force and Influence...

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The Advantage of the Union in Respect to Economy and Government

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And everyone's favorite topic, taxation! [Hand grabs a dollar from the book]

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…Okay, fine, no one's favorite topic, taxation.

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All of these ideas were stated in very bold, simple and almost insulting ways.

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There was also a specific effort made to instill a fear of what might happen if the Constitution

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was not ratified. [People running away from burning building]

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Which leads us to the million dollar question…did it work?

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Well, in a way, sure.

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After all, the Constitution that these papers supported was ratified in 1788 – and it's

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one we still have to this day.

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But at the same time, it's not quite so clear.

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And by that, we mean that there's debate as to whether or not the Federalist Papers themselves [Logs burning and article thrown into fire]

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really played much of a part in the ratification, and if that many people really ended up reading

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them.

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But in any event, whether or not the papers were directly responsible probably didn't

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concern Hamilton, Madison and Jay all that much. [Papers in a trash bag]

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The Constitution was ratified, and that's a win in their books.

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We wonder if any of them suggested pictures…maybe more people would've read it, then… [Hamilton, Jay and Maddison walking]

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