Though the Federalist Papers are well known as a primary statement of the principles and purposes of the proposed United States Constitution, there were many writers other than John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton who in 1787 and 1788 argued for the Constitution's ratification. Indeed, Herbert J. Storing, Jr. has observed that these “'other' Federalist writings carried the main burden of the public defense of the proposed Constitution … [and] several of them were vastly more influential than The Federalist.”