During the debates over the design and ratification of the United States Constitution, in 1787 and 1788, a large number of writers in the popular press used pseudonyms. This list shows some of the more important commentaries and the (known or presumed) authors responsible for them. Note: the identity of the person behind several of these pseudonyms is not known for certain.

Pseudonym Author Notes A.B. Francis Hopkinson Federalist.Kaminski and Saladino, XV: p. 181. Agrippa James WinthropMain, Jackson Turner. The Antifederalists: Critics of the Constitution, 1781-1788. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 1961, p. 287. Eighteen essays appeared under this name in the Massachusetts Gazette between November 23, 1787 and February 5, 1788.Kaminski and Saladino, XV: p. 51. Alfredus Samuel Tenney Federalist.Kaminski and Saladino, XIII: p. 412. Americanus John Stevens, Jr.Kaminski and Saladino, XV: p. 120. Aristides Alexander Contee Hanson Federalist.Kaminski and Saladino, XIII: p. 489. Aristocrotis William Petrikin Anti-Federalist.Kaminski and Saladino, XIII: p. 376. An Assemblyman William Findley Brutus Robert Yates, Melancton Smith Anti-Federalist. After Marcus Junius Brutus, a Roman republican involved in the assassination of Caesar. Published sixteen essays in the New York Journal between October 1787 and April 1788. Candidus Benjamin Austin Cato George Clinton Anti-Federalist. Centinel Samuel Bryan Alternately, the author possibly was George Bryan. Cincinnatus Arthur Lee After Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. Six essays addressed to James Wilson appeared under this name in the New York Journal beginning November 1, 1787.Kaminski and Saladino, XIII, p. 529. A Citizen of America Noah Webster A Citizen of New Haven Roger Sherman A Columbian Patriot Mercy Warren A Countryman Roger Sherman A Country Federalist James Kent Crito Stephen Hopkins Examiner Charles McKnight Federal Farmer Anti-Federalist. The Federal Farmer letters are frequently attributed to Richard Henry Lee, but modern scholarship has challenged Lee's authorship.Kaminski and Saladino, XIV: pp. 15-6.Wood, Gordon S. "The Authorship of the Letters from the Federal Farmer." The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 31, No. 2. (Apr., 1974), pp. 299-308. Foreign Spectator Nicholas CollinKaminski and Saladino, XV: p. 454. Genuine Information Luther Martin Harrington Benjamin Rush Helvidius Priscus James Warren An Independent Freeholder Alexander White John DeWitt Anti-Federalist. Pseudonym derives from Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland. A Landholder Oliver Ellsworth Thirteen essays, some of the most widely circulated commentary on the proposed Constitution, appeared under this name, with the first publication coming in the Hartford papers. The essays were certainly written by one of the Connecticut delegates to the Convention, and Ellsworth is the only likely possibility.Kaminski and Saladino, XIII: p. 561. Marcus James Iredell Margery George Bryan An Officer of the Late Continental Army William Findley An Old Whig Anti-Federalist. A Pennsylvania Farmer John Dickinson Philadelphiensis Benjamin Workman Philo-Publius William Duer Phocion Alexander Hamilton A Plain Dealer Spencer Roane A Plebeian Melancton Smith Publius Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay After Publius Valerius Publicola. Under this name the three men wrote the 85 Federalist Papers. Hamilton had already used the name in 1778. A Republican Federalist James Warren Rough Hewer Abraham Yates Senex Patrick Henry? Published an article in the Virginia Independent Chronicle, August 15, 1787, which was reprinted in four states. James McClurg wrote that the author was "supposed by some to be Mr. H---y."Kaminski and Saladino, p. 90. The State Soldier St. George Tucker Sydney Robert Yates Timoleon After Timoleon of Corinth. Tullius George Turner?

Literature The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Vols. XIII-XVI. Ed. John P. Kaminski and Gaspare J. Saladino. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1981.

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