Early in the American Revolution Hamilton was an artillery officer. Later he served on George Washington's staff. Hamilton believed by the late 1780s that the Articles of Confederation made a government that was too weak to work well, and he supported drafting a new document. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and he was a signer of the Constitution. In 1789 he was co-author of the Federalist Papers, a series of letters written by Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name "Publius." Hamilton wrote about two-thirds of the essays. They were published in newspapers in New York and supported the new Constitution. These writings are usually thought of as being one of the most important American works on politics and government. They are still widely read today.