The best source is the Constitution, and second to that are Supreme Court rulings. Madison came to the convention with the meat of what would become the Constit

The best source is the Constitution, and second to that are Supreme Court rulings. Madison came to the convention with the meat of what would become the Constitution, but the actual language was shaped and clarified by committee. Most of the Federalist papers are the product of Madison and Hamilton, and those are raw, but they are arguments in defense. Given how many were written by Hamilton who had less participation and less effect, I would argue they’re useful arguments for the why of the Constitution, but not the best means of interpreting it. I don’t have any annotated versions of the Federalist Papers I can recommend, but The Heritage Foundation has one of the better web annotations of the Constitution[1]. Scroll through and you’ll find various clauses accompanied with full essays in the little “i” icons. What you may also find helpful is context for the why and the how of the Constitution, as in why did the Articles of Confederation need to be replaced and how did the Constitutional Convention decide to replace them and how they went about replacing them. National Review hosts Constitutionally Speaking[2], and the hosts of the show keep trying to bring it back in various ways but they finished with what they initially promised by the end of Episode 41. [1] https://www.heritage.org/constitution/ https://www.heritage.org/constitution/ [2] https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/constitutionally-speaking/ https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/constitutionally-spe...