At the pivotal moment in the history of the United States of America, ratification of the Constitution was championed by James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton in a series of newspaper articles known as the Federalist Papers . In answer to these arguments and as a way of pointing up flaws and weaknesses in the Constitution itself, a number of political thinkers (who mostly used pseudonyms) argued against ratification through articles and speeches which have collectively come to be known as the Antifederalist Papers . This edited collection of readings from Antifederalist thought was first published in 1985. This edition contains a revised and updated interpretative essay from the editors and is expanded to cover the period of the founding from 1776 to 1791.