Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay

The three authors of The Federalist were all founders of the United States. Alexander Hamilton, born illegitimate on the Caribbean island of Nevis and orphaned as a boy, came to New York to study, served as Washington's aide-de-camp in the War of Independence, became the first Secretary of the Treasury and built the nation's financial system, and was killed in a duel at forty-nine. James Madison, small and often ill but deeply learned, was the chief architect of the Constitution, known as its 'father', and later the fourth President. John Jay, a New York lawyer and diplomat, helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the War of Independence and became the first Chief Justice of the United States. Together they wrote under the pen name 'Publius'.