Federalist No. 42 is an essay by James Madison, and the forty-second of The Federalist Papers. It was published on January 22, 1788 under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all The Federalist papers were published. Federalist No. 42 continues a theme that was started in Federalist No. 41, and is titled "The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered". Here, Madison contends that the grant of specific powers to the federal government actually operates to limit the power of the federal government to act with respect to the states.