<P> Hamilton chose "Publius" as the pseudonym under which the series would be written . While many other pieces representing both sides of the constitutional debate were written under Roman names, Albert Furtwangler contends that "' Publius' was a cut above' Caesar' or' Brutus' or even' Cato .' Publius Valerius was not a late defender of the republic but one of its founders . His more famous name, Publicola, meant' friend of the people ."' It was not the first time Hamilton had used this pseudonym: in 1778, he had applied it to three letters attacking fellow Federalist Samuel Chase . Chase's patriotism was questioned when Hamilton revealed that Chase had taken advantage of knowledge gained in Congress to try to dominate the flour market . </P> <P> At the time of publication the authorship of the articles was a closely guarded secret, though astute observers discerned the identities of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay . Following Hamilton's death in 1804, a list that he had drafted claiming fully two - thirds of the papers for himself became public, including some that seemed more likely the work of Madison (No. 49--58 and 62--63). The scholarly detective work of Douglass Adair in 1944 postulated the following assignments of authorship, corroborated in 1964 by a computer analysis of the text: </P> <Ul> <Li> Alexander Hamilton (51 articles: No. 1, 6--9, 11--13, 15--17, 21--36, 59--61, and 65--85) </Li> <Li> James Madison (29 articles: No. 10, 14, 18--20, 37--58 and 62--63) </Li> <Li> John Jay (5 articles: No. 2--5 and 64). </Li> </Ul> <Li> Alexander Hamilton (51 articles: No. 1, 6--9, 11--13, 15--17, 21--36, 59--61, and 65--85) </Li>

Who wrote the majority of the federalist papers