The Founding Fathers emphasized the need for government to be accountable to its people. To separate this power, they established a government that divided the responsibility among three branches. Congress was also split into two parts to allow more balanced representation to each state. Separation also existed between the state governments and federal government. The Founding Fathers believed that the separation of powers kept government accountability and served as a safeguard for liberty.
While the Founding Fathers were cautious with the inconsistent nature of public opinion, states wanted representatives to be accountable to the people. This role of the public having the right to vote, although limited only to free men at its inception, aimed to make the American representatives more responsive to the pleas of the people than the European royalty of the time.
Although a Bill of Rights was not contained within the original text of the Constitution, several of the Founding Fathers based their justification for political revolution on the violation of inalienable rights. The consensus of the constitutional convention was that the first Congress would draft a separate bill of rights for the federal government. Several states also had their own clauses for the protection of rights.
The intent of the government, from the perspective of the Founding Fathers, was to limit government authority to only the most necessary arenas. The original framework of the government allowed more leniency for states and private individuals to handle their own disputes and affairs. Addressing whether jurisdictions existed for the government to present legislation on issues was a primary concern of delegates.