Hello, friends—Publius here.

One of the questions I get frequently is why No. 86 is called No. 86. It’s a great question, and the answer is simpler than you might think.

Back in the late 1780s, it was becoming clear that the original founding charter for the brand-new United States—the Articles of Confederation—wasn’t working quite as well as many Founders had hoped. So, the group went back to the drawing board to write what we now have as the U.S. Constitution.

However, making the Constitution the law of the land wasn’t as simple as writing a new document. It first needed to be ratified by at least nine of the thirteen states. Even though this new constitution was written by—and supported by—a number of prominent voices at the time, not everyone was enthusiastic about the idea.

As a result, both sides of the argument launched information campaigns, writing and publishing numerous essays explaining their reasonings and points of view. Those in favor of the Constitution were called Federalists, and those who opposed it were called Anti-federalists. 

The primary Federalist writers, together, wrote and published 85 essays in defense and explanation of the proposed constitution and in direct response to Anti-federalist essays criticizing the proposed constitution. These essays have become known as the Federalist Papers.

In honor of that tradition and spirit of open debate, we decided to call our video series explaining various aspects of law No. 86. Our intention is to continue the conversation begun over 200 years ago about the merits, reasoning, intent, and importance of the law and its foundational documents. 

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of those 85 Federalist Papers. They offer a unique, primary look into the development of one of the most influential founding documents in the world. As the law and our understanding of it changes and expands, it’s important to keep the spirit of those Papers alive in our discourse, too.

If you’d like to learn more about the Constitution and what it means, we have over 100 videos on the subject, from Article I to Amendments.