AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School: The Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton,
photograph of a contemporary portrait by John Trumbull.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

The first in a series of eighty-five essays by "Publius," the pen name of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, appeared in the New York Independent Journal on October 27, 1787. "Publius" urged New Yorkers to support ratification of the Constitution approved by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787.

Proponents of the new Constitution believed centralized government was essential for successful commercial and geographic expansion. Only a strong national government, they argued, could effectively negotiate with foreign countries, ensure free trade between states, and create a stable currency.

The Federalist essays addressed widespread concern that a national government, distanced from the people, would soon grow despotic. The essays eloquently and comprehensively argue that distributing power across the various branches of government provides checks and balances to the concentrated sovereignty of the federal government.

James Madison's essay "The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection" exemplifies the brilliance and startling originality of the Federalist. Published on November 23, 1787, it challenges the assumption that individual rights can be secured only in small countries with homogeneous populations.

James Madison,
Lithograph after the painting by Gilbert Stuart,
circa 1828.
Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present

The Constitution's detractors maintained that large nations with disparate populations are inherently unstable. The emergence of factions, they believed, would constantly threaten to overwhelm the government and place personal liberty at risk. Madison topples this argument by insisting that plurality and liberty are complementary. In a famous passage he writes:

Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.

James Madison, Federalist No.10,
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School: The Federalist Papers

Although written for the New York press, newspapers around the country reprinted the essays. Collected and published in book form in May 1788, the Federalist played an important role in the campaign to ratify the Constitution in New York and Virginia. Ratification of the Constitution was possible without these populous states, but their approval was considered crucial to the success of the new government.

Ultimately, the federalist vision of a national government prevailed. However, the Federalist represents one of many perspectives in a nationwide debate over the Constitution. Learn more about the Constitutional Convention and the controversy surrounding ratification:

George Washington to Alexander Hamilton,
November 10, 1787.
George Washington's Papers, 1741-1799
In this letter to Alexander Hamilton, George Washington thanks Hamilton for sending a copy of the pamphlet written by "Publius."

• Visit To Form a More Perfect Union: An Introduction to the Congressional Documents. A feature of the collection Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, this special presentation contains background information about the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and the call for a Constitution.
• Consider the anti-federalist position. Read an essay attributed to George Bryan contained in the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention 1774-1789's online collection of Broadsides. Bryan was especially concerned about the lack of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution.
• See Elliot's Debates available through the collection A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation. Volume III contains the debates and proceedings of Virginia's ratifying convention. Notice Patrick Henry's outspoken opposition to the proposed Constitution.
• Search the Today in History Archive on ratification for more information relating to the crafting of the U.S. Constitution.

New York City Subway Opens

Now I, as Mayor, in the name of the people, declare the subway open!

New York Mayor George B. McClellan

In the Subway,
New York, New York,
1904.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century, 1880-1920

With these words, New York Mayor George B. McClellan closed a morning of oratory at City Hall in honor of the opening of the New York City Subway System. At precisely 2:35P.M on Thursday, October 27, 1904, the first subway train emerged from City Hall station with Mayor McClellan at the controls.

Twenty-six minutes later, the inaugural express arrived at its destination at 145th Street. The system opened to the general public at 7 P.M Before the evening was out, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company had tunneled some 150,000 passengers around the city.

An underground transportation system for New York City had been proposed as early as 1868. Even then, navigating city streets clogged with pedestrians, horses, wagons and carriages proved dangerous and frustrating. Between 1870 and 1900 many private companies attempted to take on the project, but each time, legal, political, and financial obstacles proved insurmountable. While completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 and the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903 eased traffic moving into Manhattan, congestion within the city remained a problem.

Lower Broadway,
Filmed May 12, 1902,
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1903.
Life of a City: New York, 1898-1906

In the fall of 1894, New Yorkers voted overwhelmingly for municipal ownership of the subway system, clearing some of the legal and political hurdles. However, funding and organizing such a tremendous construction project continued to pose a challenge. Finally, financier August Belmont organized the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company, and, in March 1900, ground-breaking ceremonies were held at Borough Hall in Manhattan.

Interior N.Y. Subway, 14th St. to 42nd St.,
Filmed May 21, 1905,
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1905.
Life of a City: New York, 1898-1906

A variety of films and photographs of turn-of-the century New York and its new subway system are available through American Memory:

• Just seven months after the subway system opened, cameraman G.W. "Billy" Bitzer captured a train ride from 14th street to the old Grand Central Station. That film, Interior N.Y. Subway, 14th St. to 42nd St., and forty-four others are available in the collection The Life of a City: Early Films of New York, 1898-1906.
• Watch 2 a.m. In the Subway. This 1905 comedic short from the American Variety Stage collection suggests anxiety about the potential for moral laxity on the subway.
• View photographs of New York City in 1900. Search the collection Touring Turn-of-the-Century America on New York City.
• The Today in History Archive contains a variety of features pertaining to the development of Manhattan landmarks. Search on New York City to retrieve information about Kings College (now Columbia University), the New York Public Library, and the Metropolitan Opera House.