Oct 27: The Federalist Papers Begin, New York's First Subway Opens

Host 1 Good morning. morning. Welcome to On This Day in American History. History. Today is Tuesday, October 27th, 2026 and and you know today we are taking a quick quick deep dive into the archives to look at three moments that basically started entirely new eras. We're talking a hijacked subway train an 18th 18th century pseudonym and a cursed baseball jersey.

Host 2 Yeah there are all these massive historic gambles that just happen to pay off on this exact day. And the oldest one actually takes us to New York in 1787.

Host 1 Right, the Federalist Papers.

Host 2 Exactly. Alexander Hamilton, who was hiding behind the pen name Publius, published this essay in the Independent Journal. It was the very first of the Federalist Papers, and his immediate goal was just you know trying to convince New York to ratify the proposed constitution.

Host 1 But wait I kind of need to push back on how we usually picture this because we tend to think of the Federalist Papers as this like sacred polished historical text right? right?

Host 2 Oh absolutely.

Host 1 But if you look at how it actually happened Hamilton and his co-authors were essentially firing off the 18th century equivalent of a massive highly coordinated Twitter thread just this rapid fire op-ed campaign trying to sway public opinion in real time like did they even know it would become so permanent?

Host 2 Well they were definitely operating with um this sense of extreme urgency. But Hamilton also knew exactly how high the stakes were. Right out of the gate in in Federalist number one he frames it as it as a literal test for all of humanity.

Host 2 Saying the world was watching to see if a society could build a good government from quote reflection and choice rather than you know just relying on accident and force.

Host 1 reflection and choice choice yeah that's a great line but honestly I mean wasn't Hamilton just a political elite writing this incredibly dense philosophy for other elites if you were were just an everyday New Yorker reading the paper did this actually matter to you?

Host 2 well that was his big gamble really he was betting that putting a a complex reasoned argument in a public newspaper would sort of trickle down and shape the debate at every level and it paid off so so well that today the Library of of Congress notes that lawyers and everyday citizens are still arguing over these 85 essays just to interpret the original intent behind the constitution.

Host 1 so Hamilton gambles on a a philosophical transformation in New York but if if we jump forward to October 27th 1904 that very same city makes this massive physical gamble

Host 2 oh the subway

Host 1 yeah the the Interborough Rapid Transit Company opens New York's first underground subway line and they make this wild promise to you saying you can get from City Hall to to Harlem in 15 minutes

Host 2 and New Yorkers completely took that bet. Though, if you look at the sources, they actually dispute the exact crowd size for that day.

Host 1 Really?

Host 2 Yeah, the New York Times swore it was 150,000 people, but modern groups like the Tenement Museum put it closer to 110,000. But either way, we know confidently that well over 100,000 people dropped a nickel on day one to risk going underground.

Host 1 And my absolute favorite detail about about this day is Mayor George B. McClellan. He gets the ceremonial solid silver lever to start the first train but he enjoys it so so much he just refuses to give up the controls. controls. He basically hijacked his own train and drove all the way to Harlem faster than anyone intended.

Host 2 I mean you would probably do the same thing if you suddenly had the power to just bypass all that street level horse traffic. It was revolutionary. Before this day lower Manhattan was just this huge bottleneck with millions crammed into tenements because you had to live right where you worked.

Host 1 Right because commuting from Harlem to Wall Street by horse drawn streetcar was just car was just completely impractical.

Host 2 Exactly. So it meant meant commuting from the outer boroughs practical overnight. And it fundamentally changed how New York grew.

Host 1 So a 15 minute journey transforms transforms the city's geography and that brings us to an 86 year journey that totally transformed a fan base's psychology October 27th 2004 the Boston Red Sox sweep the St. Louis Cardinals Cardinals 3-0 and win their first World Series since 1918.

Host 2 Yeah and the atmosphere that night was almost cinematic. I mean the game was literally played under a total lunar eclipse

Host 1 wow

Host 2 and the final out came down to down to a ground hitter hit right back to pitcher pitcher Keith Folk

Host 1 hit by Edgar Edgar Renteria right

Host 2 which Which is just amazing to me because of the poetic irony there. Renteria serendipitously wore jersey number three three which was Babe Ruth's exact number

Host 1 oh yeah

Host 2 so you have this 86 year curse of the Bambino ending on a play that directly involves Ruth's number Ruth's number it's almost too perfect

Host 1 it really is

Host 2 it ended decades of just superstitious misery for Boston and launched a modern dynasty that went on to win again in 2007 and 2013 and 2018

Host 1 incredible well just to quickly round out today's date also on this day in 1962 major Rudolph Anderson Junior's U-2 was shot down over Cuba in 1954 Benjamin O Davis Junior became the first black general in the US Air Force and in 1938 DuPont announced the invention of nylon

Host 2 lots of history today but thinking back to that Red Sox game it leaves you with a really fascinating question to chew on just how much do shared superstitions like an 86 year sports curse actually shape shape our collective psychology and behavior

Host 1 thanks for tuning in tuning in see you back here tomorrow