Abstract
This chapter examines the theme of balance in American constitutional history. The problem of power is the longest-lived issue in American constitutionalism. It was a central focus of the American Revolution; it became the critical problem of the Constitutional Convention; and it is a constant refrain in American politics. Two perennial questions govern debates on the subject: How much power can be trusted to government? What restraints on power are necessary to protect liberty? History and experience converged to suggest a guiding theme, the division of power, which popular sovereignty, or the people as ultimate authority, made possible. Federalism was one division of power; another was to separate and balance the powers of the central government among its branches.
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