A chief aim of the Constitution as drafted by the Convention was to create a government with enough power to act on a national level, but without so much power that fundamental rights would be at risk.

The powers of each branch are enumerated in the Constitution, with powers not assigned to them reserved to the States.

classical republicanism, also known as civic humanism, is a form of republicanism  developed in the renaissance inspired by the governmental forms and writings of  classical  antiquity, especially such  classical  writers as aristotle, polybius, and cicero.