The Federalist (... known as the "Federalist Papers") is a collection of eighty-five essays on the U.S. Constitution written under the pseudonym Publius by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Hamilton conceived of the project as a means of countering anti-Federalists, opponents of the Constitution who were busily writing their own essays warning of the dangerous powers given to the proposed national government. Madison and Hamilton eventually wrote all but five of the essays, which appeared serially in New York City newspapers between October 1787 and August 1788. They were also published in book form in 1788.