Each of these three elements of Madison's governmental plan served a different direct purpose but the combination served to ensure that government would provide order but would do so without growing out of control. The design of federalism would insure that local factions would not become too powerful while still permitting local issues a proper forum. The system of checks and balances would allow each branch of the government the authority to perform its proper function but limits it authority be virtue of the fact that the other two branches had the power to override such authority. In Madison's view this system would ensure that no one branch became too powerful. Finally, the separation of powers made it impossible for any one branch of the government to become too powerful. By dividing the power of government into three branches Madison guaranteed that power would not become too centralized.

Madison's contribution to the constitutional...

The inclusion of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution is the single best insurance that the power of government in the United States would never become too powerful. The body of the U.S. Constitution lays out the powers of the federal government but it is the Bill of Rights that provides the protection for the individual rights of all citizens. This protection was the paramount concern that motivated the American Revolution and without their inclusion the U.S. Constitution would have never provided the limitations on government authority that was of major concern for Madison in drafting the Constitution.
U.S. Constitution and James Madison