The Federal Farmer was the pseudonym used by an Anti-Federalist who wrote a methodical assessment of the proposed United States Constitution that was among the more important documents of the ratification debate. The assessment appeared in the form of two pamphlets, the first published in November 1787 and the second in December 1787.
The letters, which were addressed to "The Republican," were signed only with the pseudonym "the Federal Farmer." The identity of the author is unknown. Scholars have suggested Richard Henry Lee and Melancton Smith as possibilities, though recent evidence suggests Smith is the most likely author. "The Republican" was most likely New York state governor George Clinton.
The Federal Farmer made typical Anti-Federalist arguments, claiming that the Constitution would tear down the sovereign states in favor of a consolidated government, and that this end of the federal system would be destructive of American liberties. The letters were praised at the time for their thoughtfulness, composition, and persuasiveness, and today are among the most widely read works in the Anti-Federalist canon.
Publication and contemporary reaction
On November 8, 1787, the New York Journal began to advertise a new pamphlet entitled Observations Leading to a Fair Examination of the System of Government Proposed by the Late Convention; and to Several Essential and Necessary Alterations in It. In a Number of Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican. This pamphlet contained the first five Federal Farmer letters, dated October 8 to 13. The first edition was replete with errors and a second, corrected printing appeared within a week. The letters also began to appear in newspapers; on November 14 the Poughkeepsie County Journal started publishing the series, finishing on January 2. The first two editions of the pamphlet were probably produced by Thomas Greenleaf, who printed the New York Journal. At least two further editions were released by other printers.
Through January, the Federal Farmer letters circulated through New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Following on the success of the first pamphlet, a second one containing thirteen new letters, dated from December 25 to January 25, appeared in early May. Also printed by Thomas Greenleaf, this pamphlet, entitled An Additional Number of Letters From the Federal Farmer to the Republican Leading to a Fair Examination of the System of Government Proposed by the Late Convention; To Several Essential and Necessary Alterations in It; And Calculated to Illustrate and Support the Principles and Positions Laid Down in the Preceding Letters, was first advertised in the Journal on May 2. The Additional Letters had significantly less success than the Observations.
Among the Federalists, Alexander Hamilton (as Publius), Edward Carrington, and Noah Webster acknowledged the Federal Farmer as, in Hamilton's words, the "most plausible" Anti-Federalist. Only one Federalist, Timothy Pickering, took the time to develop a complete critical response to the Federal Farmer. Though this was not published during the course of the constitutional debates, it survives in a personal letter. Pickering described the Federal Farmer as "a wolfe in sheep's cloathing" and too focused on a misplaced fear of aristocracy.
Attribution
Richard Henry Lee
The authorship of the Federal Farmer letters is uncertain. Until the latter part of the 20th century, the letters were generally accepted to be the work of Richard Henry Lee. Lee had been a member of the Continental Congress and had served as that body's presiding officer. He was known to be an Anti-Federalist, and as he was at New York in 1787 while serving on Virginia's Congressional delegation, he could have arranged for the initial publication of the pamphlets. A handful of contemporary sources identified Lee with the Federal Farmer pamphlets, beginning with a letter addressed to Lee that appeared in the Connecticut Courant on December 24. That letter was reprinted in a handful of Massachusetts papers as a response to the Federal Farmer. Aside from these instances, the Federal Farmer was nowhere identified in the papers as the product of Lee's pen.