Brutus (antifederalist)

Brutus was the pen name of an Anti-Federalist in a series of essays designed to encourage New Yorkers to reject the proposed Constitution. His essays are considered among the best of those written to oppose adoption of the proposed constitution. They paralleled and confronted The Federalist Papers during the ratification fight over the Constitution. Brutus published 16 essays in the New-York Journal, and Weekly Register, beginning shortly before The Federalist started appearing in New York newspapers. The essays were widely reprinted and commented on throughout the American states. All 16 of the essays were addressed to "the Citizens of the State of New York".

The true identity of Brutus was unknown. For many years, Robert Yates was seen as the most likely writer, but more recent scholarship had suggested either Melancton Smith of Poughkeepsie or John Williams of Salem. A computational analysis of the known writings of Smith suggested that either he or an associate was the author of the Brutus papers, though there were also strong similarities between the works of Williams and Brutus.

In 2025, new evidence was discovered confirming that Melancton Smith was Brutus and Elbridge Gerry was the Federal Farmer. Similarities between their early essays are readily explained by collaboration between the two Antifederalist allies. The pen name is in honor of either Lucius Junius Brutus, who led the overthrow of the last Roman King Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, or Marcus Junius Brutus, who was one of Julius Caesar's assassins.