James Madison proposed a plan of government that would have three branches. One of the big concerns the writers of the Constitution had was to create a new plan of government that would be stronger and have more power than the government had under the plan created by the Articles of Confederation. At the same time, the writers feared a new federal government that had too much power. They remembered the problems we had when the British government had complete power and authority.

By proposing a plan of government with three branches, James Madison was hoping to give the government more power but not too much power so that it would be overbearing. Each branch of government would have a different job. No branch would be able to do everything by itself. The legislative branch would make the laws. The executive branch would execute or carry out the laws. The judicial branch would interpret the laws. This concept, known as separation of powers, would help prevent the federal government from having too much power. It would have enough power to deal with issues that arose, but not too much power to have total control.

With the system of checks and balances, where the branches would have ways to control each other, and with separation of powers, the new government would have the power to effectively run the government, but not have too much power to become dictatorial.