The Moralist Papers is the moralist’s equivalent of the Federalist Papers.
Whereas the authors of the Federalist Papers—James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton—believed that it was incumbent on them to elicit support for the ratification of the Constitution of the United States in the fall of 1787—at a time when ratification appeared to be in mortal jeopardy—the authors of The Moralist Papers believe that it is incumbent on them and any other moralist to promote high moral values and to infuse morality into all topics of consequence—societal, economic, and political.
Even after the ratification of the United States Constitution, when John Adams wrote on October 11, 1798: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people; It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other,” he arguably was not only opining that the adequacy of the Constitution depended on morality; he probably was also suggesting that the Constitution itself is ultimately about moral topics.
Morality underpins all societal, economic, and political topics.
Language quality is a moral topic. Debt is a moral topic. Leadership is a moral topic. And so are many others.
If you are a “moralist”—defined by Merriam-Webster as one who leads a moral life; a philosopher or writer concerned with moral principles and problems; one concerned with regulating the morals of others—you are welcome to contact us to contribute essays to The Moralist Papers.