Melancton Smith

[1] Praised for his intelligence, liberality, and reasonableness,[2] Smith had attained considerable respect in the State of New York by 1787 and he has been described by modern scholars as the most important Anti-Federalist theorist and spokesman.

On Feb. 11, 1777, he became one of three members of a Dutchess County commission for "inquiring into, detecting and defeating all conspiracies ... against the liberties of America;" he served for the next six months administering oaths of allegiance, arresting suspects, informing upon and examining Loyalists.

[3] Smith was the most important Anti-Federalist member of the State ratification convention at Poughkeepsie in 1788, where he made many of the same arguments as the Federal Farmer, bore the brunt of the Federalist attack and got into heated debates with Alexander Hamilton.

While many believed Robert Yates to have been the author of the Brutus essays and Richard Henry Lee to have written the Federal Farmer, scholars have recently cast doubt on those attributions.

Furthermore, "[a]ll of the tests employed upheld Smith's authorship of Federal Farmer's papers, while the claim for Richard Henry Lee found no support at all.

"[7] Michael Zuckert and Derek Webb, noting that it would be odd for one person to write two separate sets of essays covering similar topics and publishing at the same time, suggest that Smith instead collaborated closely with other Antifederalists.