A common perception of the arguments in The Federalist may be stated as follows. In designing the Constitution, the framers were motivated by reason. Their task was to limit the influence of interest and passion, and perhaps enhance the role of reason, in the future political agents whose choices the Constitution would guide and constrain. In a more compact version, to paraphrase Friedrich Hayek, the American Constitution – like constitutions quite generally – was a tie imposed by Peter when sober on Peter when drunk.