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The Federalist Papers
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Series of 85 essays arguing in favor of the ratification of the US Constitution
"The Federalist" redirects here. For the website, see The Federalist (website). For other uses, see Federalist (disambiguation).
The Federalist Papers
Title page of the first collection of The Federalist (1788). This particular volume was a gift from Alexander Hamilton's wife Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton to her sister Angelica
Author
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
Original title
The Federalist
Country
The United States
Language
English
Publisher
The Independent Journal, New York Packet, The Daily Advertiser, J. & A. McLean
Publication date
October 27, 1787 - May 28, 1788
Media type
Newspaper, book
The Federalist (later known as The Federalist Papers) is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. The first 77 of these essays were published serially in the Independent Journal, the New York Packet, and The Daily Advertiser between October 1787 and April 1788.[1] A two-volume compilation of these 77 essays and eight others was published as The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787 by publishing firm J. & A. McLean in March and May 1788.[2][3] The collection was commonly known as The Federalist until the name The Federalist Papers emerged in the 20th century.
Though the authors of The Federalist foremost wished to influence the vote in favor of ratifying the Constitution, in "Federalist No. 1", they explicitly set that debate in broader political terms:
It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.[4]
"Federalist No. 10", in which Madison discusses the means of preventing rule by majority faction and advocates a large, commercial republic, is generally regarded as the most important of the 85 articles from a philosophical perspective; it is complemented by "Federalist No. 14", in which Madison takes the measure of the United States, declares it appropriate for an extended republic, and concludes with a memorable defense of the constitutional and political creativity of the Federal Convention.[5] In "Federalist No. 84", Hamilton makes the case that there is no need to amend the Constitution by adding a Bill of Rights, insisting that the various provisions in the proposed Constitution protecting liberty amount to a "bill of rights". "Federalist No. 78", also written by Hamilton, lays the groundwork for the doctrine of judicial review by federal courts of federal legislation or executive acts. "Federalist No. 70" presents Hamilton's case for a one-man chief executive. In "Federalist No. 39", Madison presents the clearest exposition of what has come to be called "Federalism". In "Federalist No. 51", Madison distills arguments for checks and balances in an essay often quoted for its justification of government as "the greatest of all reflections on human nature."
According to historian Richard B. Morris, they are an "incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer."[6]
Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Origins
1.2 Authorship
1.3 Publication
1.4 Disputed essays
1.5 Influence on the ratification debates
2 Structure and content
2.1 Opposition to the Bill of Rights
3 Judicial use
4 Complete list
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
Alexander Hamilton, author of the majority of The Federalist Papers
The Federal Convention sent the proposed Constitution to the Confederation Congress, which in turn submitted it to the states for ratification at the end of September 1787. On September 27, 1787, "Cato" first appeared in the New York press criticizing the proposition; "Brutus" followed on October 18, 1787.[7] These and other articles and public letters critical of the new Constitution would eventually become known as the "Anti-Federalist Papers". In response, Alexander Hamilton decided to launch a measured defense and extensive explanation of the proposed Constitution to the people of the state of New York. He wrote in Federalist No. 1 that the series would "endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention."[8]
Hamilton recruited collaborators for the project. He enlisted John Jay, who after four strong essays (Federalist Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5), fell ill and contributed only one more essay, Federalist No. 64, to the series. He also distilled his case into a pamphlet in the spring of 1788, An Address to the People of the State of New-York; Hamilton cited it approvingly in Federalist No. 85. James Madison, present in New York as a Virginia delegate to the Confederation Congress, was recruited by Hamilton and Jay, and became Hamilton's major collaborator. Gouverneur Morris and William Duer were also apparently considered; Morris turned down the invitation, and Hamilton rejected three essays written by Duer.[9] Duer later wrote in support of the three Federalist authors under the name "Philo-Publius", or "Friend of Publius".
Hamilton chose "Publius" as the pseudonym under which the series would be written. While many other pieces representing both sides of the constitutional debate were written under Roman names, Albert Furtwangler contends that "'Publius' was a cut above 'Caesar' or 'Brutus' or even 'Cato.' Publius Valerius was not a late defender of the republic but one of its founders. His more famous name, Publicola, meant 'friend of the people.'"[10] It was not the first time Hamilton had used this pseudonym: in 1778, he had applied it to three letters attacking fellow Federalist Samuel Chase. Chase's patriotism was questioned when Hamilton revealed that Chase had taken advantage of knowledge gained in Congress to try to dominate the flour market.
Authorship[edit]
At the time of publication the authorship of the articles was a closely guarded secret, though astute observers discerned the identities of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. Following Hamilton's death in 1804, a list that he had drafted claiming fully two-thirds of the papers for himself became public, including some that seemed more likely the work of Madison (No. 49–58 and 62–63). The scholarly detective work of Douglass Adair in 1944 postulated the following assignments of authorship, corroborated in 1964 by a computer analysis of the text:
Alexander Hamilton (51 articles: No. 1, 6–9, 11–13, 15–17, 21–36, 59–61, and 65–85)
James Madison (29 articles: No. 10, 14, 18–20,[11] 37–58 and 62–63)
John Jay (5 articles: No. 2–5 and 64).
A total of 85 articles were written by the three men in a span of ten months under the pseudonym "Publius" because it recalled the founder of the Roman Republic, and using it implied a positive intention.[10] Madison is now acknowledged as the father of the Constitution—despite his repeated rejection of this honor during his lifetime.[12] Madison became a leading member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia (1789–1797), Secretary of State (1801–1809), and ultimately the fourth President of the United States.[13] Hamilton, who had been a leading advocate of national constitutional reform throughout the 1780s and represented New York at the Constitutional Convention, in 1789 became the first Secretary of the Treasury, a post he held until his resignation in 1795. John Jay, who had been secretary for foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation from 1784 through their expiration in 1789, became the first Chief Justice of the United States in 1789, stepping down in 1795 to accept election as governor of New York, a post he held for two terms, retiring in 1801.
Publication[edit]
An advertisement for The Federalist, 1787, using the pseudonym "Philo-Publius"
The Federalist articles appeared in three New York newspapers: The Independent Journal, the New-York Packet, and the Daily Advertiser, beginning on October 27, 1787. Although written and published with haste, The Federalist articles were widely read and greatly influenced the shape of American political institutions.[14] Between them, Hamilton, Madison and Jay kept up a rapid pace, with at times three or four new essays by Publius appearing in the papers in a week. Garry Wills observes that the pace of production "overwhelmed" any possible response: "Who, given ample time could have answered such a battery of arguments? And no time was given."[15] Hamilton also encouraged the reprinting of the essay in newspapers outside New York state, and indeed they were published in several other states where the ratification debate was taking place. However, they were only irregularly published outside New York, and in other parts of the country they were often overshadowed by local writers.[16]
Because the essays were initially published in New York, most of them begin with the same salutation: "To the People of the State of New York".
The high demand for the essays led to their publication in a more permanent form. On January 1, 1788, the New York publishing firm J. & A. McLean announced that they would publish the first thirty-six essays as a bound volume; that volume was released on March 22, 1788 and was titled The Federalist Volume 1.[1] New essays continued to appear in the newspapers; Federalist No. 77 was the last number to appear first in that form, on April 2. A second bound volume containing Federalist 37–77 and the yet to be published Federalist 78–85 was released on May 28.[1] The last eight papers (Federalist 78–85) were republished in the New York newspapers between June 14 and August 16, 1788.[1][17]
A 1792 French edition ended the collective anonymity of Publius, announcing that the work had been written by "MM Hamilton, Maddisson E Gay", citizens of the State of New York. In 1802, George Hopkins published an American edition that similarly named the authors. Hopkins wished as well that "the name of the writer should be prefixed to each number," but at this point Hamilton insisted that this was not to be, and the division of the essays among the three authors remained a secret.[18]
James Madison, Hamilton's major collaborator, later President of the United States
The first publication to divide the papers in such a way was an 1810 edition that used a list left by Hamilton to associate the authors with their numbers; this edition appeared as two volumes of the compiled "Works of Hamilton". In 1818, Jacob Gideon published a new edition with a new listing of authors, based on a list provided by Madison. The difference between Hamilton's list and Madison's formed the basis for a dispute over the authorship of a dozen of the essays.[19]
Both Hopkins's and Gideon's editions incorporated significant edits to the text of the papers themselves, generally with the approval of the authors. In 1863, Henry Dawson published an edition containing the original text of the papers, arguing that they should be preserved as they were written in that particular historical moment, not as edited by the authors years later.[20]
Modern scholars generally use the text prepared by Jacob E. Cooke for his 1961 edition of The Federalist; this edition used the newspaper texts for essay numbers 1–76 and the McLean edition for essay numbers 77–85.[21]
Disputed essays[edit]
The authorship of seventy-three of The Federalist essays is fairly certain. Twelve of these essays are disputed over by some scholars, though the modern consensus is that Madison wrote essays Nos. 49–58, with Nos. 18–20 being products of a collaboration between him and Hamilton; No. 64 was by John Jay. The first open designation of which essay belonged to whom was provided by Hamilton who, in the days before his ultimately fatal gun duel with Aaron Burr, provided his lawyer with a list detailing the author of each number. This list credited Hamilton with a full sixty-three of the essays (three of those being jointly written with Madison), almost three-quarters of the whole, and was used as the basis for an 1810 printing that was the first to make specific attribution for the essays.[22]
John Jay, author of five of The Federalist Papers, later became the first Chief Justice of the United States
Madison did not immediately dispute Hamilton's list, but provided his own list for the 1818 Gideon edition of The Federalist. Madison claimed twenty-nine numbers for himself, and he suggested that the difference between the two lists was "owing doubtless to the hurry in which [Hamilton's] memorandum was made out." A known error in Hamilton's list—Hamilton incorrectly ascribed No. 54 to John Jay, when in fact, Jay wrote No. 64—provided some evidence for Madison's suggestion.[23]
Statistical analysis has been undertaken on several occasions to try to ascertain the authorship question based on word frequencies and writing styles. Nearly all of the statistical studies show that the disputed papers were written by Madison, although a computer science study theorizes the papers were a collaborative effort.[24][25][26]
Influence on the ratification debates[edit]
The Federalist Papers were written to support the ratification of the Constitution, specifically in New York. Whether they succeeded in this mission is questionable. Separate ratification proceedings took place in each state, and the essays were not reliably reprinted outside of New York; furthermore, by the time the series was well underway, a number of important states had already ratified it, for instance Pennsylvania on December 12. New York held out until July 26; certainly The Federalist was more important there than anywhere else, but Furtwangler argues that it "could hardly rival other major forces in the ratification contests"—specifically, these forces included the personal influence of well-known Federalists, for instance Hamilton and Jay, and Anti-Federalists, including Governor George Clinton.[27] Further, by the time New York came to a vote, ten states had already ratified the Constitution and it had thus already passed—only nine states had to ratify it for the new government to be established among them; the ratification by Virginia, the tenth state, placed pressure on New York to ratify. In light of that, Furtwangler observes, "New York's refusal would make that state an odd outsider."[28]
Only 19 Federalists were elected to New York's ratification convention, compared to the Anti-Federalists' 46 delegates. While New York did indeed ratify the Constitution on July 26, the lack of public support for pro-Constitution Federalists has led historian John Kaminski to suggest that the impact of The Federalist on New York citizens was "negligible".[29]
As for Virginia, which only ratified the Constitution at its convention on June 25, Hamilton writes in a letter to Madison that the collected edition of The Federalist had been sent to Virginia; Furtwangler presumes that it was to act as a "debater's handbook for the convention there," though he claims that this indirect influence would be a "dubious distinction."[30] Probably of greater importance to the Virginia debate, in any case, were George Washington's support for the proposed Constitution and the presence of Madison and Edmund Randolph, the governor, at the convention arguing for ratification.
Structure and content[edit]
In Federalist No. 1, Hamilton listed six topics to be covered in the subsequent articles:
"The utility of the UNION to your political prosperity" – covered in No. 2 through No. 14
"The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union" –covered in No. 15 through No. 22
"The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed to the attainment of this object" – covered in No. 23 through No. 36
"The conformity of the proposed constitution to the true principles of republican government" – covered in No. 37 through No. 84
"Its analogy to your own state constitution" – covered in No. 85
"The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty and to prosperity" – covered in No. 85.[31]
Furtwangler notes that as the series grew, this plan was somewhat changed. The fourth topic expanded into detailed coverage of the individual articles of the Constitution and the institutions it mandated, while the two last topics were merely touched on in the last essay.
The papers can be broken down by author as well as by topic. At the start of the series, all three authors were contributing; the first twenty papers are broken down as eleven by Hamilton, five by Madison and four by Jay. The rest of the series, however, is dominated by three long segments by a single writer: No. 21 through No. 36 by Hamilton, No. 37 through 58 by Madison, written while Hamilton was in Albany, and No. 65 through the end by Hamilton, published after Madison had left for Virginia.[32]
Opposition to the Bill of Rights[edit]
The Federalist Papers (specifically Federalist No. 84) are notable for their opposition to what later became the United States Bill of Rights. The idea of adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution was originally controversial because the Constitution, as written, did not specifically enumerate or protect the rights of the people, rather it listed the powers of the government and left all that remained to the states and the people. Alexander Hamilton, the author of Federalist No. 84, feared that such an enumeration, once written down explicitly, would later be interpreted as a list of the only rights that people had[citation needed].
However, Hamilton's opposition to a Bill of Rights was far from universal. Robert Yates, writing under the pseudonym Brutus, articulated this view point in the so-called Anti-Federalist No. 84, asserting that a government unrestrained by such a bill could easily devolve into tyranny. References in The Federalist and in the ratification debates warn of demagogues of the variety who through divisive appeals would aim at tyranny. The Federalist begins and ends with this issue.[33] In the final paper Hamilton offers "a lesson of moderation to all sincere lovers of the Union, and ought to put them on their guard against hazarding anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the States from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of a successful demagogue".[34] The matter was further clarified by the Ninth Amendment.
Judicial use[edit]
Federal judges, when interpreting the Constitution, frequently use The Federalist Papers as a contemporary account of the intentions of the framers and ratifiers.[35] They have been applied on issues ranging from the power of the federal government in foreign affairs (in Hines v. Davidowitz) to the validity of ex post facto laws (in the 1798 decision Calder v. Bull, apparently the first decision to mention The Federalist).[36] By 2000[update], The Federalist had been quoted 291 times in Supreme Court decisions.[37]
The amount of deference that should be given to The Federalist Papers in constitutional interpretation has always been somewhat controversial. As early as 1819, Chief Justice John Marshall noted in the famous case McCulloch v. Maryland, that "the opinions expressed by the authors of that work have been justly supposed to be entitled to great respect in expounding the Constitution. No tribute can be paid to them which exceeds their merit; but in applying their opinions to the cases which may arise in the progress of our government, a right to judge of their correctness must be retained."[38] In a letter to Thomas Ritchie in 1821, he stated that "the legitimate meaning of the Instrument must be derived from the text itself; or if a key is to be sought elsewhere, it must be not in the opinions or intentions of the Body which planned & proposed the Constitution, but in the sense attached to it by the people in their respective State Conventions where it recd. all the authority which it possesses." [39][40]
Complete list[edit]
The colors used to highlight the rows correspond to the author of the paper.
Alexander Hamilton
John Jay
James Madison
#
Date
Title
Author
1 October 27, 1787 General Introduction Alexander Hamilton
2 October 31, 1787 Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence John Jay
3 November 3, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence John Jay
4 November 7, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence John Jay
5 November 10, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence John Jay
6 November 14, 1787 Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States Alexander Hamilton
7 November 15, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States Alexander Hamilton
8 November 20, 1787 The Consequences of Hostilities Between the States Alexander Hamilton
9 November 21, 1787 The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection Alexander Hamilton
10 November 22, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection James Madison
11 November 24, 1787 The Utility of the Union in Respect to Commercial Relations and a Navy Alexander Hamilton
12 November 27, 1787 The Utility of the Union In Respect to Revenue Alexander Hamilton
13 November 28, 1787 Advantage of the Union in Respect to Economy in Government Alexander Hamilton
14 November 30, 1787 Objections to the Proposed Constitution From Extent of Territory Answered James Madison
15 December 1, 1787 The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union Alexander Hamilton
16 December 4, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union Alexander Hamilton
17 December 5, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union Alexander Hamilton
18 December 7, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union James Madison[11]
19 December 8, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union James Madison[11]
20 December 11, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union James Madison[11]
21 December 12, 1787 Other Defects of the Present Confederation Alexander Hamilton
22 December 14, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: Other Defects of the Present Confederation Alexander Hamilton
23 December 18, 1787 The Necessity of a Government as Energetic as the One Proposed to the Preservation of the Union Alexander Hamilton
24 December 19, 1787 The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered Alexander Hamilton
25 December 21, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered Alexander Hamilton
26 December 22, 1787 The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered Alexander Hamilton
27 December 25, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered Alexander Hamilton
28 December 26, 1787 The Same Subject Continued: The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered Alexander Hamilton
29 January 9, 1788 Concerning the Militia Alexander Hamilton
30 December 28, 1787 Concerning the General Power of Taxation Alexander Hamilton
31 January 1, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation Alexander Hamilton
32 January 2, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation Alexander Hamilton
33 January 2, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation Alexander Hamilton
34 January 5, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation Alexander Hamilton
35 January 5, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation Alexander Hamilton
36 January 8, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation Alexander Hamilton
37 January 11, 1788 Concerning the Difficulties of the Convention in Devising a Proper Form of Government James Madison
38 January 12, 1788 The Same Subject Continued, and the Incoherence of the Objections to the New Plan Exposed James Madison
39 January 18, 1788 The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles James Madison
40 January 18, 1788 The Powers of the Convention to Form a Mixed Government Examined and Sustained James Madison
41 January 19, 1788 General View of the Powers Conferred by the Constitution James Madison
42 January 22, 1788 The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered James Madison
43 January 23, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered James Madison
44 January 25, 1788 Restrictions on the Authority of the Several States James Madison
45 January 26, 1788 The Alleged Danger From the Powers of the Union to the State Governments Considered James Madison
46 January 29, 1788 The Influence of the State and Federal Governments Compared James Madison
47 January 30, 1788 The Particular Structure of the New Government and the Distribution of Power Among Its Different Parts James Madison
48 February 1, 1788 These Departments Should Not Be So Far Separated as to Have No Constitutional Control Over Each Other James Madison
49 February 2, 1788 Method of Guarding Against the Encroachments of Any One Department of Government James Madison[41]
50 February 5, 1788 Periodic Appeals to the People Considered James Madison[41]
51 February 6, 1788 The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments James Madison[41]
52 February 8, 1788 The House of Representatives James Madison[41]
53 February 9, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: The House of Representatives James Madison[41]
54 February 12, 1788 The Apportionment of Members Among the States James Madison[41]
55 February 13, 1788 The Total Number of the House of Representatives James Madison[41]
56 February 16, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: The Total Number of the House of Representatives James Madison[41]
57 February 19, 1788 The Alleged Tendency of the New Plan to Elevate the Few at the Expense of the Many James Madison[41]
58 February 20, 1788 Objection That The Number of Members Will Not Be Augmented as the Progress of Population Demands Considered James Madison[41]
59 February 22, 1788 Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members Alexander Hamilton
60 February 23, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members Alexander Hamilton
61 February 26, 1788 The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members Alexander Hamilton
62 February 27, 1788 The Senate James Madison[41]
63 March 1, 1788 The Senate Continued James Madison[41]
64 March 5, 1788 The Powers of the Senate John Jay
65 March 7, 1788 The Powers of the Senate Continued Alexander Hamilton
66 March 8, 1788 Objections to the Power of the Senate To Set as a Court for Impeachments Further Considered Alexander Hamilton
67 March 11, 1788 The Executive Department Alexander Hamilton
68 March 12, 1788 The Mode of Electing the President Alexander Hamilton
69 March 14, 1788 The Real Character of the Executive Alexander Hamilton
70 March 15, 1788 The Executive Department Further Considered Alexander Hamilton
71 March 18, 1788 The Duration in Office of the Executive Alexander Hamilton
72 March 19, 1788 The Same Subject Continued, and Re-Eligibility of the Executive Considered Alexander Hamilton
73 March 21, 1788 The Provision For The Support of the Executive, and the Veto Power Alexander Hamilton
74 March 25, 1788 The Command of the Military and Naval Forces, and the Pardoning Power of the Executive Alexander Hamilton
75 March 26, 1788 The Treaty Making Power of the Executive Alexander Hamilton
76 April 1, 1788 The Appointing Power of the Executive Alexander Hamilton
77 April 2, 1788 The Appointing Power Continued and Other Powers of the Executive Considered Alexander Hamilton
78 May 28, 1788 (book)
June 14, 1788 (newspaper) The Judiciary Department Alexander Hamilton
79 May 28, 1788 (book)
June 18, 1788 (newspaper) The Judiciary Continued Alexander Hamilton
80 June 21, 1788 The Powers of the Judiciary Alexander Hamilton
81 June 25, 1788 and
June 28, 1788 The Judiciary Continued, and the Distribution of the Judicial Authority Alexander Hamilton
82 July 2, 1788 The Judiciary Continued Alexander Hamilton
83 July 5, 1788,
July 9, 1788 and
July 12, 1788 The Judiciary Continued in Relation to Trial by Jury Alexander Hamilton
84 July 16, 1788,
July 26, 1788 and
August 9, 1788 Certain General and Miscellaneous Objections to the Constitution Considered and Answered Alexander Hamilton
85 August 13, 1788 and
August 16, 1788 Concluding Remarks Alexander Hamilton
See also[edit]
Book: The Federalist Papers
American philosophy
The Anti-Federalist Papers
The Complete Anti-Federalist
List of pseudonyms used in the American Constitutional debates
Notes[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c d Lloyd, Gordon. "Introduction to the Federalist". teachingamericanhistory.org. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
Jump up ^ The Federalist: a Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787, in two volumes (1 ed.). New York: J. and A. McLean. 1788. Retrieved March 16, 2017 – via Library of Congress.
Jump up ^ Jackson, Kenneth T. The Encyclopedia of New York City: The New York Historical Society; Yale University Press; 1995. p. 194.
Jump up ^ The Federalist Papers. Toronto: Bantam Books. 1982.
Jump up ^ Wills, x.
Jump up ^ Richard B. Morris, The Forging of the Union: 1781–1789 (1987) p. 309
Jump up ^ Furtwangler, 48–49.
Jump up ^ Gunn, Giles B. (1994). Early American Writing. Penguin Classics. p. 540. ISBN 0-14-039087-1.
Jump up ^ Furtwangler, 51–56.
^ Jump up to: a b Furtwangler, Albert (1984). The Authority of Publius: A Reading of the Federalist Papers. Cornell Univ Pr. ISBN 978-0-8014-9339-3. , p.51
^ Jump up to: a b c d Nos. 18, 19, 20 are frequently indicated as being jointly written by Hamilton and Madison. However, Adair concurs with previous historians that these are Madison's writing alone: "Madison had certainly written all of the essays himself, including in revised form only a small amount of pertinent information submitted by Hamilton from his rather sketchy research on the same subject." Adair, 63.
Jump up ^ Banning, Lance James Madison: Federalist, note 1.
Jump up ^ See, e.g. Ralph Ketcham, James Madison. New York: Macmillan, 1971; reprint ed., Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998. See also Irving N. Brant, James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787–1800. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1950.
Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. (2007). Founding Fathers: The Essential Guide to the Men Who Made America. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons
Jump up ^ Wills, xii.
Jump up ^ Furtwangler, 20.
Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. (2007). Founding Fathers: The Essential Guide to the Men Who Made America. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Jump up ^ Adair, 40–41.
Jump up ^ Adair, 44–46.
Jump up ^ Henry Cabot Lodge, ed. (1902). The Federalist, a Commentary on the Constitution of the United States. Putnam. pp. xxxviii–xliii. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
Jump up ^ Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison (Jacob E. Cooke, ed., The Federalist (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1961 and later reprintings). ISBN 978-0-8195-6077-3.
Jump up ^ Adair, 46–48.
Jump up ^ Adair, 48.
Jump up ^ Jeff Collins, David Kaufer, Pantelis Vlachos, Brian Butler and Suguru Ishizaki, "Detecting Collaborations in Text: Comparing the Authors' Rhetorical Language Choices in the Federalist Papers" Computers and the Humanities 38 no. 1 (Feb. 2004).
Jump up ^ Mosteller and Wallace.
Jump up ^ Fung, Glenn, The disputed federalist papers: SVM feature selection via concave minimization, New York City, ACM Press, 2003. (9 pg pdf file)
Jump up ^ Furtwangler, 21.
Jump up ^ Furtwangler, 22.
Jump up ^ Coenen, Dan. "Fifteen Curious Facts about The Federalist Papers". Media Commons. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
Jump up ^ Furtwangler, 23.
Jump up ^ This scheme of division is adapted from Charles K. Kesler's introduction to The Federalist Papers (New York: Signet Classic, 1999) pp. 15–17. A similar division is indicated by Furtwangler, 57–58.
Jump up ^ Wills, 274.
Jump up ^ Jeffrey Tulis (1987). The Rhetorical Presidency. Princeton University Press. p. 30. ISBN 0-691-02295-X.
Jump up ^ Harvey Flaumenhaft, “Hamilton's Administrative Republic and the American Presidency,” in The Presidency in the Constitutional Order, ed. Joseph M. Bessette and Jeffrey Tulis (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1981), 65–114.
Jump up ^ Lupu, Ira C.; "The Most-Cited Federalist Papers". Constitutional Commentary (1998) pp. 403+; using Supreme Court citations, the five most cited were Federalist No. 42 (Madison) (33 decisions), Federalist No. 78 (Hamilton) (30 decisions), Federalist No. 81 (Hamilton) (27 decisions), Federalist No. 51 (Madison) (26 decisions), Federalist No. 32 (Hamilton) (25 decisions).
Jump up ^ See, among others, a very early exploration of the judicial use of The Federalist in Charles W. Pierson, "The Federalist in the Supreme Court", The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 33, No. 7. (May 1924), pp. 728–35.
Jump up ^ Chernow, Ron. "Alexander Hamilton". Penguin Books, 2004. (p. 260)
Jump up ^ Arthur, John (1995). Words That Bind: Judicial Review and the Grounds of Modern Constitutional Theory. Westview Press. p. 41. ISBN 0-8133-2349-5.
Jump up ^ Madison to Thomas Ritchie, September 15, 1821. Quoted in Furtwangler, 36.
Jump up ^ Max Farrand, ed. (1911). The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Yale University Press.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l One of twelve "disputed papers" to which both Madison and Hamilton laid claim. Modern scholarly consensus leans towards Madison as the author of all twelve, and he is so credited in this table. See Federalist Papers: Disputed essays. See Adair, 93: "The disputed numbers of The Federalist claimed by both Hamilton and Madison are Numbers 49 through 58 and Numbers 62 and 63.
References[edit]
Adair, Douglass. Fame and the Founding Fathers. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1974. A collection of essays; that used here is "The Disputed Federalist Papers".
Frederick Mosteller and David L. Wallace. Inference and Disputed Authorship: The Federalist. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1964.
Summarized in "Inference in an Authorship Problem". Journal of the American Statistical Association 58:302 (June, 1963), pp. 275-309. (Full text via JSTOR.)
Furtwangler, Albert. The Authority of Publius: A Reading of the Federalist Papers. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1984.
Wills, Gary. Explaining America: The Federalist, Garden City, NJ: 1981.
Further reading[edit]
Everdell, William R. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Meyerson, Michael I. Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist Papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World, New York: Basic Books, 2008.
Dietze, Gottfried. The Federalist: A Classic on Federalism and Free Government, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1960.
Epstein, David F. The Political Theory of the Federalist, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Gray, Leslie, and Wynell Burroughs. "Teaching With Documents: Ratification of the Constitution", Social Education, 51 (1987): 322–24.
Kesler, Charles R. Saving the Revolution: The Federalist Papers and the American Founding, New York: 1987.
Patrick, John J., and Clair W. Keller. Lessons on the Federalist Papers: Supplements to High School Courses in American History, Government and Civics, Bloomington, IN: Organization of American Historians in association with ERIC/ChESS, 1987. ED 280 764.
Schechter, Stephen L. Teaching about American Federal Democracy, Philadelphia: Center for the Study of Federalism at Temple University, 1984. ED 248 161.
Scott, Kyle. The Federalist Papers: A Reader’s Guide (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013) 202 pp.
Sunstein, Cass R. The Enlarged Republic – Then and Now, New York Review of Books, (March 26, 2009): Volume LVI, Number 5, 45.
Webster, Mary E. The Federalist Papers: In Modern Language Indexed for Today's Political Issues. Bellevue, WA: Merril Press, 1999.
White, Morton. Philosophy, The Federalist, and the Constitution, New York: 1987.
Zebra Edition. The Federalist Papers: (Or, How Government is Supposed to Work), Edited for Readability. Oakesdale, WA: Lucky Zebra Press, 2007.
External links[edit]
Find more aboutThe Federalist Papersat Wikipedia's sister projects
Media from Wikimedia Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Data from Wikidata
The Federalist Papers public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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The Federalist Papers at Project Gutenberg
The Federalist Papers on the Bill of Rights
Teaching The Federalist Papers
Booknotes interview with Robert Scigliano on Scigliano's Modern Library edition of The Federalist Papers, January 21, 2001.
Collection of The Federalist Papers
EDSITEment on The Federalist and Anti-Federalist debates on diversity and the extended republic
"Federalist, The". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
National Archives on The Federalist
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Things Fall Apart
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This article is about the novel. For other uses, see Things Fall Apart (disambiguation).
"Ikemefuna" redirects here. For the American football player, see Ikemefuna Enemkpali.
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Things Fall Apart
First edition
Author
Chinua Achebe
Cover artist
C. W. Barton
Country
Nigeria
Language
English
Genre
Historical fiction
Publisher
William Heinemann Ltd.
Publication date
1958
ISBN
0-385-47454-7
Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in 1958. The story's main theme concerns pre- and post-colonial life in late nineteenth century Nigeria. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. It was first published in 1958 by William Heinemann Ltd in the UK; in 1962, it was also the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series. The title of the novel comes from a line in W. B. Yeats' poem "The Second Coming".[1]
The novel follows the life of Okonkwo, an Igbo ("Ibo" in the novel) leader and local wrestling champion in the fictional Nigerian village of Umuofia. The work is split into three parts, with the first describing his family, personal history, and the customs and society of the Igbo, and the second and third sections introducing the influence of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on the Igbo community.
Things Fall Apart was followed by a sequel, No Longer at Ease (1960), originally written as the second part of a larger work along with Arrow of God (1964). Achebe states that his two later novels A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987), while not featuring Okonkwo's descendants, are spiritual successors to the previous novels in chronicling African history.
Contents
[hide]
1 Novel's title
2 Plot
3 Characters
4 Background
4.1 Language choice
5 Literary significance and reception
5.1 Influence
6 Film, television, music and theatrical adaptations
7 Publication information
8 See also
9 Footnotes
10 References
11 External links
Novel's title[edit]
The book's title comes from the opening lines of W. B. Yeats's poem, "The Second Coming":
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...
Plot[edit]
Part 1
The novel's protagonist Okonkwo is famous in the surrounding villages for being a wrestling champion, defeating a wrestler nicknamed "the cat" (because he never lands on his back). He is strong, hard-working, and strives to show no weakness. Okonkwo wants to dispel his father Unoka’s tainted legacy of unpaid debts, a neglected wife and children, and cowardice at the sight of blood. Okonkwo works to build his wealth entirely on his own, as Unoka died a shameful death and left many unpaid debts. He is also obsessed with his masculinity, and any slight compromise on this is swiftly destroyed. As a result, he is kind with his three wives, children, and neighbours, and is wealthy, courageous, and powerful among the people of his village. He is a leader of his village, and he has attained a position in his society for which he has striven all his life.[2]
Okonkwo is selected by the elders to be the guardian of Ikemefuna, a boy taken by the village as a peace settlement between Umuofia and another village after Ikemefuna's father killed an Umuofian woman. The boy lives with Okonkwo's family and Okonkwo grows fond of him. The boy looks up to Okonkwo and considers him a second father. The Oracle of Umuofia eventually pronounces that the boy must be killed. Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, warns Okonkwo that he should have nothing to do with the murder because it would be like killing his own child - but to avoid seeming weak and feminine to the other men of the village, Okonkwo disregards the warning from the old man, striking the killing blow himself even as Ikemefuna begs his "father" for protection. For many days after killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo feels guilty and saddened.
Shortly after Ikemefuna's death, things begin to go wrong for Okonkwo. His sickly daughter Ezinma falls unexpectedly ill and it is feared she may die; during a gun salute at Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo's gun accidentally explodes and kills Ezeudu's son. He and his family are sent into exile for seven years to appease the gods he has offended.
Part 2
While Okonkwo is away in Mbanta, he learns that white men are living in Umuofia with the intent of introducing their religion, Christianity. As the number of converts increases, the foothold of the white people grows and a new government is introduced. The village is forced to respond with either appeasement or resistance to the imposition of the white people's nascent society.
Part 3
Returning from exile, Okonkwo finds his village changed by the presence of the white men. After a convert commits a heinous act by unmasking an elder as he embodies an ancestral spirit of the clan, the village retaliates by destroying a local Christian church. In return, the leader of the white government takes them prisoner and holds them for a ransom of two hundred cowries for a short while, further humiliating and insulting the native leaders, doing things such as shaving their heads and whipping them. As a result, the people of Umuofia finally gather for what could be a great uprising. Okonkwo, a warrior by nature and adamant about following Umuofian custom and tradition, despises any form of cowardice and advocates war against the white men. When messengers of the white government try to stop the meeting, Okonkwo beheads one of them. Because the crowd allows the other messengers to escape, and does not fight with Okonkwo he realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are not going to fight to protect themselves — his society's response to such a conflict, which for so long had been predictable and dictated by tradition, is changing.
When the local leader of the white government comes to Okonkwo's house to take him to court, he finds that Okonkwo has hanged himself to avoid being tried in a colonial court. Among his own people, Okonkwo's actions have tarnished his reputation and status, as it is strictly against the teachings of the Igbo to commit suicide.[3]
Characters[edit]
Okonkwo is the novel's protagonist. He has three wives and ten (total) children, and is a brave and rash Umuofian (Nigerian) warrior and clan leader. Unlike most, he cares more for his daughter Ezinma than his son Nwoye whom he believes is weak. Okonkwo is the son of the gentle and lazy Unoka, a man he resents for his weaknesses. Okonkwo strives to make his way in a culture that traditionally values manliness. As a young man he defeated the village's best wrestler, earning him lasting prestige. He therefore rejects everything for which he believes his father stood: Unoka was idle, poor, profligate, cowardly, gentle, lazy, and interested in music and conversation. Okonkwo consciously adopts opposite ideals and becomes productive, wealthy, brave, violent, and opposed to music and anything else that he regards as "soft," such as conversation and emotion. He is stoic to a fault. He is also the hardest-working member of his clan. Okonkwo's life is dominated by fear of failure and of weakness—the fear that he will resemble his father. Ironically, in all his efforts not to end up like his father, he commits suicide, becoming in his culture an abomination to the Earth and rebuked by the tribe as his father was (Unoka died from swelling and was likewise considered an abomination). Okonkwo's suicide represents not only his culture's rejection of him, but his rejection of the changes in his people's culture, as he realizes that the Igbo society that he was so proud of has been forever altered by the Christian missionaries.
Ekwefi is Okonkwo's second wife. Although she falls in love with Okonkwo after seeing him in a wrestling match, she marries another man because Okonkwo is too poor to pay her bride price at that time. Two years later, she runs away to Okonkwo's compound one night and later marries him. She receives severe beatings from Okonkwo just like his other wives; but unlike them, she is known to talk back to Okonkwo. She is the only one who has the audacity to knock on the door of his obi at dawn. Having met with the grave misfortunes of the deaths of her first nine children, she is a devoted mother to Ezinma, whom she protects and loves dearly. When Chielo, a priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves, says that the oracle wishes to see Ezinma, Ekwefi follows the priestess through the dark woods and even makes up her mind to enter the cave where Agbala resides and to die with her daughter if need be. Okonkwo looks for them and goes to the mouth of the cave himself after waiting for a certain period, because he too was very worried about Ezinma and Ekwefi even though he had kept this worry to himself. Upon finding Ekwefi, he was very relieved and they both waited for Ezinma.
Unoka is Okonkwo's father, who lived a life in contrast to typical Igbo masculinity. He loved language and music, the flute in particular. He is lazy and miserly, neglecting to take care of his wives and children and even dies with unpaid debts. Okonkwo spends his life trying not to become a failure like his father Unoka.
Nwoye is Okonkwo's son, about whom Okonkwo worries, fearing that he will become like Unoka. Similar to Unoka, Nwoye does not subscribe to the traditional Igbo view of masculinity being equated to violence; rather, he prefers the stories of his mother. Nwoye connects to Ikemefuna, who presents an alternative to Okonkwo's rigid masculinity. He is one of the early converts to Christianity and takes on the Christian name Isaac, an act which Okonkwo views as a final betrayal.
Ikemefuna is a boy from the Mbaino tribe. His father murders the wife of an Umuofian man, and in the resulting settlement of the matter, Ikemefuma is put into the care of Okonkwo. By the decision of Umuofian authorities, Ikemefuna is ultimately killed, an act which Okonkwo does not prevent, and even participates in, lest he seem feminine and weak. Ikemefuna became very close to Nwoye, and Okonkwo's decision to participate in Ikemefuna's death takes a toll on Okonkwo's relationship with Nwoye.
Ezinma is Okonkwo's favorite daughter, and the only child of his wife Ekwefi. Ezinma, the Crystal Beauty, is very much the antithesis of a normal woman within the culture and Okonkwo routinely remarks that she would've made a much better boy than a girl, even wishing that she had been born as one. Ezinma often contradicts and challenges her father, which wins his adoration, affection, and respect. She is very similar to her father, and this is made apparent when she matures into a beautiful young woman who refuses to marry during her family's exile, instead choosing to help her father regain his place of respect within society.
Obierika is Okonkwo's best friend from Umuofia. He is a strong and powerful man in Umuofia, but unlike Okonkwo he is a reasoning man and is much less violent and arrogant. Obierika often talks Okonkwo out of making rash decisions, and helps Okonkwo when he is on exile from Umuofia. He fully understands the changes going on in their society, and that their clan no longer had the unity it did before the white man appeared in Umuofia. Obierika's son, Maduka, is greatly admired by Okonkwo for his wrestling prowess, which (in Okonkwo's opinion) is something his own son, Nwoye lacks. Obierika is considered the voice of reason in the book, and questions certain parts of their culture, such as the necessity to exile Okonkwo after he unintentionally kills a boy.
Ogbuefi Ezeudu is one of the elders of Umuofia. He is regarded as very wise, and gives Okonkwo good advice. At Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo's gun misfires, accidentally killing the dead elder's son, for which Okonkwo and his family go into exile.
Mr. Brown is a white man who comes to Umuofia. Unlike many white people, he is kind and caring to all the villagers. Sadly, he got sick and died.
Background[edit]
Most of the story takes place in the village of Umuofia, located west of the actual city of Onitsha, on the east bank of the Niger River in Nigeria. The events of the novel unfold in the 1890s.[4] The culture depicted, that of the Igbo people, is similar to that of Achebe's birthplace of Ogidi, where Igbo-speaking people lived together in groups of independent villages ruled by titled elders. The customs described in the novel mirror those of the actual Onitsha people, who lived near Ogidi, and with whom Achebe was familiar.
Within forty years of the arrival of the British, by the time Achebe was born in 1930, the missionaries were well established. He lived in the British culture but he refused to change Igbo name Chinua to Albert. Achebe's father was among the first to be converted in Ogidi, around the turn of the century. Achebe himself was an orphan raised by his grandfather. His grandfather, far from opposing Achebe's conversion to Christianity, allowed Achebe's Christian marriage to be celebrated in his compound.[4]
Language choice[edit]
Achebe wrote his novels in English because written Standard Igbo was created by combining various dialects, creating a stilted written form. In a 1994 interview with The Paris Review, Achebe said, "the novel form seems to go with the English language. There is a problem with the Igbo language. It suffers from a very serious inheritance which it received at the beginning of this century from the Anglican mission. They sent out a missionary by the name of Dennis. Archdeacon Dennis. He was a scholar. He had this notion that the Igbo language—which had very many different dialects—should somehow manufacture a uniform dialect that would be used in writing to avoid all these different dialects. Because the missionaries were powerful, what they wanted to do they did. This became the law. But the standard version cannot sing. There's nothing you can do with it to make it sing. It's heavy. It's wooden. It doesn't go anywhere."[5]
Achebe's choice to write in English has caused controversy. While both African and non-African critics agree that Achebe modelled Things Fall Apart on classic European literature, they disagree about whether his novel upholds a Western model, or, in fact, subverts or confronts it.[6] Achebe continued to defend his decision: "English is something you spend your lifetime acquiring, so it would be foolish not to use it. Also, in the logic of colonization and decolonization it is actually a very powerful weapon in the fight to regain what was yours. English was the language of colonization itself. It is not simply something you use because you have it anyway."[7]
Achebe is noted for his inclusion of and weaving in of proverbs from Igbo oral culture into his writing.[8] This influence was explicitly referenced by Achebe in Things Fall Apart: "Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten."
Literary significance and reception[edit]
Things Fall Apart is a milestone in African literature. It has come to be seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English,[4][7] and is read in Nigeria and throughout Africa. Of all of Achebe's works, Things Fall Apart is the one read most often, and has generated the most critical response, examination, and literary criticism.[citation needed] It is studied widely in Europe, India and North America, where it has spawned numerous secondary and tertiary analytical works. It has achieved similar status and repute in India, Australia and Oceania.[4] Considered Achebe's magnum opus, it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.[9] Time Magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.[10] The novel has been translated into more than fifty languages, and is often used in literature, world history, and African studies courses across the world.
Achebe is now considered to be the essential novelist on African identity, nationalism, and decolonization. Achebe's main focus has been cultural ambiguity and contestation. The complexity of novels such as Things Fall Apart depends on Achebe's ability to bring competing cultural systems and their languages to the same level of representation, dialogue, and contestation.[7]
Reviewers have praised Achebe's neutral narration and have described Things Fall Apart as a realistic novel. Much of the critical discussion about Things Fall Apart concentrates on the socio-political aspects of the novel, including the friction between the members of Igbo society as they confront the intrusive and overpowering presence of Western government and beliefs. Ernest N. Emenyonu commented that "Things Fall Apart is indeed a classic study of cross-cultural misunderstanding and the consequences to the rest of humanity, when a belligerent culture or civilization, out of sheer arrogance and ethnocentrism, takes it upon itself to invade another culture, another civilization."[11]
Achebe's writing about African society, in telling from an African point of view the story of the colonization of the Igbo, tends to extinguish the misconception that African culture had been savage and primitive. In Things Fall Apart, western culture is portrayed as being "arrogant and ethnocentric," insisting that the African culture needed a leader. As it had no kings or chiefs, Umuofian culture was vulnerable to invasion by western civilization. It is felt that the repression of the Igbo language at the end of the novel contributes greatly to the destruction of the culture. Although Achebe favours the African culture of the pre-western society, the author attributes its destruction to the "weaknesses within the native structure." Achebe portrays the culture as having a religion, a government, a system of money, and an artistic tradition, as well as a judicial system.
Influence[edit]
The publication of Achebe's Things Fall Apart helped pave the way for numerous other African writers. Novelists who published after Achebe were able to find an eloquent and effective mode for the expression of the particular social, historical, and cultural situation of modern Africa.[6] Before Things Fall Apart was released, European authors had written most of the novels about Africa, portraying Africans as savages who were in need of western enlightenment.
Achebe broke from this outsider view, by portraying Igbo society in a sympathetic light. This allows the reader to examine the effects of European colonialism from a different perspective.[6] He commented, "The popularity of Things Fall Apart in my own society can be explained simply... this was the first time we were seeing ourselves, as autonomous individuals, rather than half-people, or as Conrad would say, 'rudimentary souls'."[7]
The language of the novel has not only intrigued critics but has also been a major factor in the emergence of the modern African novel. Because Achebe wrote in English, portrayed Igbo life from the point of view of an African man, and used the language of his people, he was able to greatly influence African novelists, who viewed him as a mentor.[7]
Achebe's fiction and criticism continue to inspire and influence writers around the world. Hilary Mantel, the Booker Prize-winning novelist in a May 7, 2012 article in Newsweek, "Hilary Mantel's Favorite Historical Fictions", lists Things Fall Apart as one of her five favorite novels in this genre. A whole new generation of African writers – Caine prize winners Binyavanga Wainaina (current director of the Chinua Achebe Center at Bard College) and Helon Habila (Waiting for an Angel [2004] and Measuring Time [2007]); as well as Uzodinma Iweala (Beasts of No Nation [2005]); and Professor Okey Ndibe (Arrows of Rain [2000]) count Chinua Achebe as a significant influence. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author of the popular and critically acclaimed novels Purple Hibiscus (2003) and Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), commented in a 2006 interview, "Chinua Achebe will always be important to me because his work influenced not so much my style as my writing philosophy: reading him emboldened me, gave me permission to write about the things I knew well."[7]
Film, television, music and theatrical adaptations[edit]
A radio drama called Okonkwo was made of the novel in April 1961 by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. It featured Wole Soyinka in a supporting role.[12]
The book was made into a film in 1970 starring Princess Elizabeth of Toro by Hollywood lawyer Edward Mosk and his wife Fern who wrote the screenplay.[13]
In 1987, the book was made into a very successful miniseries directed by David Orere and broadcast on Nigerian television by the Nigerian Television Authority. It starred several established film actors, including Pete Edochie, Nkem Owoh and Sam Loco Efe.
In 1999, the acclaimed American hip hop band The Roots released their fourth studio album Things Fall Apart as a tribute to the novel by Chinua Achebe.
In 2008, a film adaptation of Things Fall Apart was made by a Nigerian production company with an all-Nigerian cast. Pete Edochie starred as Okonkwo.[14] [15]

Publication information[edit]
Achebe, Chinua The African Trilogy. (London: Everyman's Library, 2010) ISBN 9781841593272. Edited with an introduction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The book collects Things Fall Apart, No Longer At Ease, and Arrow of God in one volume.
See also[edit]
Heart of Darkness
Weep Not, Child
Death and the King's Horseman
Nigeria portal
1950s portal
Novels portal
Footnotes[edit]
Jump up ^ "Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart". wsu.edu.
Jump up ^ F.Ablola Irele volume4Issue3Fall2003 www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v4i3al.pdf
Jump up ^ "Random House for High School Teachers - Catalog - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe". randomhouse.com.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Kwame Anthony Appiah (1992), "Introduction" hi to the Everyman's Library edition.
Jump up ^ Jerome Brooks, "Chinua Achebe, The Art of Fiction No. 139" (Winter 1994) The Paris Review No. 133.
^ Jump up to: a b c Booker (2003), p. 7.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Sickels, Amy. "The Critical Reception of Things Fall Apart", in Booker (2011).
Jump up ^ Jayalakshmi V. Rao, Mrs A. V. N.College, "Proverb and Culture in the Novels of Chinua Achebe". African Postcolonial Literature in English.
Jump up ^ http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/565351/things-fall-apart-by-chinua-achebe/9780385474542/
Jump up ^ ALL TIME 100 Novels, Time magazine.
Jump up ^ Whittaker, David. "Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart", New York, 2007, p. 59.
Jump up ^ Ezenwa-Ohaeto (1997). Chinua Achebe: A Biography Bloomington: Indiana University Press, p. 81. ISBN 0-253-33342-3.
Jump up ^ David Chioni Moore, Analee Heath and Chinua Achebe (2008). "A Conversation with Chinua Achebe". Transition. 100: 23. JSTOR 20542537.
Jump up ^ http://www.naijarules.com/vb/stars-celebrities-nigerian-movies/30790-things-fall-apart-i-pete-edochie.html
Jump up ^ http://www.africanmoviesdirect.com/product_info.php?products_id=43036
References[edit]
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994. ISBN 0385474547
Baldwin, Gordon. Strange Peoples and Stranger Customs. New York: W. W. Norton and Company Inc, 1967.
Booker, M. Keith. The Chinua Achebe Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-325-07063-6
Booker, M. Keith. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe [Critical Insights]. Pasadena, Calif: Salem Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-58765-711-5
Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942.
Girard, Rene. Violence and the Sacred. Trans. Patrick Gregory. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977. ISBN 0-8018-1963-6
Rhoads, Diana Akers (September 1993). "Culture in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart". African Studies Review. 36(2): 61–72.
Roberts, J.M. A Short History of the World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Publishing Group, 1994. ISBN 978-0-8442-5765-5
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Chinua Achebe (Author)
Chinua Achebe discusses Things Fall Apart on the BBC World Book Club
Teacher's Guide at Random House
A “New English” in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”
Study Resource for writing about Things Fall Apart
Study guide
Words present in the novel used in past SATs Includes definitions, words in order from the book, and three different tests.
Things Fall Apart Reviews
Things Fall Apart on Wiki Summaries
Things Fall Apart study guide, themes, analysis, teacher resources]
Things Fall Apart Igbo Culture Guide, Igbo Proverbs
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Works by Chinua Achebe
Novels
Things Fall Apart (1958)
No Longer at Ease (1960)
Arrow of God (1964)
A Man of the People (1966)
Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
Short stories
"Civil Peace" (1971)
"Vengeful Creditor" (1972)
Children's stories
Chike and the River (1966)
Non-fiction
Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays (1988), including "An Image of Africa" (1975)
Authority control
BNF: cb11967456h (data)
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