The Rhetorical Construction of National Security in The Federalist Papers

• In Event: Scholar to Scholar II

Abstract

This essay examines how the writings of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in The Federalist Papers addressed security concerns in the early republic. It argues that the federalist writings represented the first comprehensive articulation of national security and American foreign policy. By tracing the rhetoric of national security in early America, we can better understand how the construction of foreign policy revolved around the definition and management of threats to safety and security.

Author

• Sara Mehltretter, Penn State University