Liberty is the most important element of the creed. To secure it, the Founders set about strictly limiting government within carefully specified bounds.Im*mediately upon the collapse of British government in America, thestates drew up written constitutions and neutered their executives.They went as far as they could possibly go to tame the government —indeed, they went farther, and had to start over to get a functioningstate. But even this second try produced a Constitution thatconcentrated as much on what government could not do as on what itcould.
The Founders knew what men were capable of, in the positive senseif their creative energies were unleashed and in the negative sense ifthey were given untrammeled power over others.