Question

How did the Founders think the power of government could be limited?

Answer 1

Hint: Strong governments distrusted the Founders. They were told through their own knowledge and analysis of history that excessively strong regimes turned authoritarian. But they also knew that a government was necessary, a government that was actually stronger than it was at the beginning of our nation.
They thought that by dividing power between different branches and levels of government, the power of the government could be limited.

Complete answer:
The Constitution is based on the division of powers and on a system of controls and balances. The founders felt that the power of the government could be limited by dividing power between three branches.

They were following Baron Montesquieu's advice that power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts. The philosophy was that people want to do good, but doing what is bad is easily corrupt. People must therefore be protected from the government's power.

The first 10 constitutional amendments to the Bill of Rights were also intended to restrict the government's power and protect the people from the government's power.

The second amendment enables people to have weapons so that the government can be overthrown by the people. The tenth amendment is supposed to limit the federal government's authority. Any powers not specifically given to the federal government are reserved for the governments of the state and individual individuals.

Note: A Goldilocks government was not sought by the Founders. Instead, they designed an elaborate set of checks and balances so that they could give the government sufficient power to govern, while using multiple Lilliputian ropes to hold it in place so that the little people were not trampled by it.