Federalist No. 54 is an essay by James Madison, the fifty-fourth of the Federalist Papers. It was published on February 12, 1788 under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all the Federalist Papers were published. This paper discusses the way in which the seats in the United States House of Representatives are apportioned among the states. It is titled, "The Apportionment of Members Among the States." The essay was erroneously attributed to John Jay in Alexander Hamilton's enumeration of the authors of the various Federalist Papers.
The chief concern of the article is the representation of slaves in relation to taxation and representation. This federalist paper states that slaves are property as well as people, therefore requiring some representation. This representation is decided to be every 3 out of 5 slaves are to be counted or 3/5 of the total number of slaves.
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“[The Federalist Party are m]ore partial to the opulent than to the other classes of society; and [have] debauched themselves into a persuasion that mankind are incapable of governing themselves.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)