The Federalist Papers
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50 free The Federalist Papers trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Federalist Papers were written in a hurry, under a single pen name, to win an argument that was far from settled: whether Americans should accept the Constitution drafted in Philadelphia in 1787. Hamilton and Madison did most of the writing, and their essays became the most quoted guide to what the framers thought they were building. This quiz works through the essays students are asked about most. Federalist No. 10 on faction, No. 51 on keeping each branch in its place, No. 39 on what makes a republic, No. 63 on the Senate, No. 70 on the presidency and No. 78 on the courts each get several questions, along with No. 37 and the Anti-Federalist reply in Brutus No. 1. It suits AP Government and civics students reviewing the required documents, and anyone curious how a run of rushed essays became a cornerstone of constitutional law. Every answer comes with a short explanation tied to the original text.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Federalist No. 51, Madison wrote that no government would be needed if men were what?
Angels
Angels would need no rulers, Madison reasoned, but real people do. So a government must first control the governed and then be obliged to control itself.
Q 02Which pen name, borrowed from a founder of the Roman Republic, signed all of The Federalist Papers?
Publius
Publius honored Publius Valerius Publicola, whose nickname meant friend of the people. Hamilton had already used the name in 1778 for three letters attacking a congressman.
Q 03Which branch do The Federalist Papers call 'the least dangerous', holding neither sword nor purse?
The judiciary
The judiciary, Hamilton argued in No. 78, can only issue rulings and must rely on the executive to carry them out. That weakness was his case for giving judges permanent tenure.
Q 04Hamilton left a list claiming 63 Federalist Papers as his own days before dueling which vice president?
Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr's shot proved fatal, and the list was later used in print to credit each essay to an author. Madison answered with a rival list of his own.
Q 05What addition to the Constitution did Hamilton call unnecessary and even dangerous in Federalist No. 84?
A bill of rights
A bill of rights, Hamilton warned, would list exceptions to powers never granted and so offer a pretext to claim more. He called the Constitution itself, in every rational sense, a bill of rights.
Q 06The Federalist Papers were addressed to the people of which state, where ratification was in doubt?
New York
New York was Hamilton's home state and a doubtful one, so most of the essays open by greeting its people. It ratified in July 1788, after ten other states already had.
Q 07Which author of The Federalist Papers contributed only five essays after falling ill early in the project?
John Jay
John Jay wrote Nos. 2 through 5, fell ill, and came back only for No. 64. In 1789 he became the first head of the Supreme Court.
Q 08Madison wrote in Federalist No. 10 that what is to faction as air is to fire?
Liberty
Liberty feeds faction the way air feeds fire, so Madison called abolishing it a remedy worse than the disease. He set out to control the effects of faction instead.
Q 09Which quality in the executive does Hamilton call a leading character of good government in Federalist No. 70?
Energy
Energy, for Hamilton, meant a president able to repel attacks and enforce the laws steadily. A feeble executive, he warned, means a badly executed government.
Q 10Which thinker, quoted at length in Brutus No. 1, does Madison call 'the oracle' in Federalist No. 47?
Montesquieu
Montesquieu's rule that the three powers of government must be kept apart was so revered that critics turned it on the Constitution. Madison replied that he never meant total separation.
Q 11Which first national charter do The Federalist Papers attack as too weak to preserve the Union?
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation let Congress only request men and money from the states, never raise them itself. Hamilton began dissecting that flaw in No. 15, the first of six essays on the subject.
Q 12In which medium did The Federalist Papers first appear, months before two bound volumes collected them?
Newspapers
Newspapers ran the essays so fast that three or four could appear in a single week, leaving critics little time to reply.
Q 13Federalist No. 51 argues the structure of government must furnish what between its separate departments?
Q 21What does Madison name in Federalist No. 10 as the most common and durable source of factions?
Unequal distribution of property
Unequal distribution of property sets those who hold it against those without, and creditors against debtors. Madison called regulating such clashing interests the principal task of modern legislation.
Q 22Which form of government does Federalist No. 10 say can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction?
A pure democracy
A pure democracy, where a few citizens meet and govern directly, lets one shared passion sweep the whole body. Madison said such governments were as short in their lives as violent in their deaths.
Q 23What does Madison advise in Federalist No. 10 to make an oppressive majority less likely to form?
Checks and balances
Checks and balances are named in the essay's own title, and Madison's method was to give each department the means and motives to resist the others. Rival interests would supply the defect of better motives.
Q 14In Federalist No. 51, what does Madison say must be made to counteract itself so no branch dominates?
Ambition
Ambition, set against ambition, ties each officeholder's self-interest to defending the turf of the office. Madison admitted it was a poor reflection on human nature that such devices were needed.
Q 15Which doctrine, later affirmed in Marbury v. Madison, did Hamilton argue for in Federalist No. 78?
Judicial review
Judicial review follows from Hamilton's point that a constitution is fundamental law, so judges must prefer it to any statute that conflicts with it. The Supreme Court adopted the principle in 1803.
Q 16Federalist No. 68 defends which method of choosing the president, a part critics had barely attacked?
The Electoral College
The Electoral College, Hamilton wrote, lets the sense of the people operate through electors chosen for that single task. If the method was not perfect, he boasted, it was at least excellent.
Q 17Federalist No. 69 argues an American president would hold far less power than which hereditary ruler?
Britain's king
Britain's king held his crown for life as an inheritance and was sacred and inviolable, Hamilton noted. A president would be elected for four years and remain answerable to the law.
Q 18Which bargain over counting enslaved people toward seats in Congress does Madison defend in Federalist No. 54?
Three-Fifths Compromise
The Three-Fifths Compromise counted three of every five enslaved people toward a state's seats and its direct taxes. Madison put the defense in the mouth of an imagined Southern advocate.
Q 19Which part of the Constitution did Brutus No. 1 warn could be used to abolish the state governments entirely?
The Necessary and Proper Clause
The Necessary and Proper Clause, Brutus feared, could justify almost any law and leave the states with nothing to govern. His essay appeared nine days before the first Federalist paper.
Q 20What feature of the United States did Brutus No. 1 argue made governing it as one free republic impossible?
Its immense extent
Its immense extent, Brutus argued, meant no assembly could know the minds of so many citizens, and history showed big republics turning tyrannical. Officials in so vast a country, he added, would soon rise above the people's control.
Extending the sphere
Extending the sphere takes in so many rival groups that an oppressive bloc struggles to form or act in unison. A factious leader, Madison wrote, may kindle a flame in one state but not a general conflagration.
Q 24Federalist No. 10 says a republic can 'refine and enlarge the public views' by passing them through whom?
Elected representatives
Elected representatives, Madison hoped, would have the wisdom to discern their country's true interest. He conceded the reverse could happen, with men of sinister designs winning votes and then betraying the voters.
Q 25Which historian's 1913 book An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution drew new attention to Federalist No. 10?
Charles Beard
Charles Beard read the essay as a masterly statement of economic determinism in politics, and scholars have argued over that reading ever since. Historian Douglass Adair credited the book with the essay's modern fame.
Q 26How does Federalist No. 51 propose to weaken the lawmaking branch, which Madison says naturally predominates?
Dividing it in two
Dividing it in two, with chambers chosen in different ways and acting on different principles, keeps lawmakers from combining too easily. The weaker executive, Madison added, might need fortifying in turn.
Q 27What does Madison call 'the end of government' and of civil society in Federalist No. 51?
Justice
Justice, Madison wrote, will be pursued until it is obtained or until freedom is lost in the pursuit. A society where the strong can oppress the weak, he warned, is as lawless as a state of nature.
Q 28Which presidential power does Federalist No. 74 say could calm a rebellion if used at the right moment?
The pardon
The pardon belongs with one man, Hamilton argued, because a well-timed offer to insurgents can end a revolt, and waiting for Congress to assemble could let the moment slip. He called it a benign prerogative.
Q 29Federalist No. 65 defends making the Senate the court for which process against misconduct in office?
Impeachment
Impeachment, Hamilton wrote, concerns offenses that are political in nature because they injure society itself. He doubted the Supreme Court would have the fortitude for so difficult a task.
Q 30Which Massachusetts rebel leader does Hamilton call a 'desperate debtor' in Federalist No. 6?
Daniel Shays
Daniel Shays had just led the uprising that bears his name, and Hamilton argued that one man's private debts helped plunge a whole state into civil war. He set the case beside wars he blamed on Pericles' grudges.