The American republic was able to be so successful in part because of the many innovations afforded by recent advances in political science, but also because of the founders' preservation of virtue and their ability to compromise. These new advances included the separation of government into branches, checks and balances between these branches, and also the enlargement of the sphere of government.

Virtue of the American citizens was an integral part in the discussions surrounding the ratification of the Constitution and also early American politics. Centinel argued in Letter No. 1 that Hamilton's theory of conflicting private interests would not result in a balancing out to the overall good of the people, and that only the people's virtue could lead to their happiness. Virtue was one of the main arguments against the Port Bill, which many thought would lead to crowded, manufacturing cities on the coast. Republicans like Jefferson opposed the bill because they feared it would undermine the virtue of the citizens in such communities, leading to a society of poor, propertyless workers -- people "unfit" for representative government. Madison in Federalist 55 stipulated that good laws could only be the result of good representatives, who would only be chosen by upright citizens, thus making morality an indispensable component the citizens and politicians of a successful republic.

The power of the executive branch and the manner of the President's election were hotly debated in the Constitutional Convention and in the Federalist - Anti-Federalist arguments. Should the President be subject to and elected by the legislature, or should he be chosen by the people and have his own powers? The question was finally resolved with a compromise, where the Executive branch had power to appoint Justices and cabinet members, but only with the approval of the Senate, and he was to be chosen by electors from each state. His qualified veto power, as explained by Madison in Federalist 51, would provide on a check on the legislative if less than two-thirds concurred. George Washington, as the first President of the United States, helped define the nature of the Executive branch by advising the legislature and exercising his Executive Powers. He epitomized the balance between absolute executive power and a puppet President of the legislature; an important development in political science that allowed our government to succeed.

Although the Legislative Branch has traditionally been the most powerful in democracies and republics, the Framers invented several mechanisms to balance this power between the states and also related to the other branches of government. At the Constitutional Convention, one of the main discussions was whether representation in the legislature should be by population or by states. Through the Great Compromise, the states-righters got their state representation in the Senate, and the centralizers gained a proportional representation in the House. Madison, in Federalist 51, illustrated how, although the legislative branch must predominate in a government of the people, its power can be checked and divided. The bicameral legislature of the Great Compromise ensured that the House and Senate would not collaborate to the detriment of the people and government. Yet the Founders did not rely solely on these mechanisms; Hamilton in Federalist 71 explained that members of Congress were guardians of public interest, and therefore had a great responsibility to withstand the trends and fads of the people in the name of the common good. Again we see the equilibrium between supreme legislative power and a legislature so regulated it could do nothing without the consent of the other branches.

Although the Judicial branch did not play a very active role in early American politics, it too was an important institution. In the early state governments, the Judicial branch resolved ambiguities and declared law. While the Founders did not intend for the Federal Courts to void legislation for being unconstitutional, that became the trend. At first the departmental theory of judicial review was popular, where each branch decided the constitutionality of issues in its own scope, but with Marbury vs. Madison, a more extended judicial review came into practice, though still much more moderate than today's Courts. With the passing of the 14th Amendment, the protections in the Bill of Rights now applied to the states as well as well as the federal government. Thus the Supreme Court took a much more active role in declaring state laws unconstitutional, such as in Lochner v. New York. This trend was reversed in West Coast Hotel v. Parrish, however, where a minimum wage law for women was upheld. Justice Holmes brought a new twist to the Supreme Court with his doctrine of neutrality; he believed that the judicial branch should be deferent to the majority, and also that the Constitution does not dictate a particular conception of good. This eventually led to our modern courts which attempt to enforce neutrality rather than simply being neutral themselves. The development of the Judicial branch was an essential component of our early government, and its changes in more recent times reflect the "procedural republic" our government has become.

After becoming independent from England, Americans knew they needed some sort of government, but the nature of that government was a difficult question to agree on. While Centinel felt that America was too big for any sort of centralized government, Madison in Federalist 39 claimed that a central republican government was the only government that "would be reconcilable with the genius of the people of America." The transformation of the American government from the weak confederacy on the Articles of Confederation to the strong federal government present after the Constitution occurred during the Constitutional Convention. The Virginia plan at first provided for a continental government with checks on state power, while the later New Jersey Plan added power to tax and regulation of commerce to a government similar to the one outlined in the Articles of Confederation, as well as an Executive under the States. What finally emerged, however, through debate and compromise, was a sovereign federal government, who had specific powers outlined in the Constitution, with the States or the people retaining all others.

A successful republican government had never existed over such a large area as the Founders' proposed government. Yet Federalists felt that the large area would not be a hamper to democracy, but instead a check on factions. Although Centinel argued there could not be full representation of the people in a republic over such a large geographic area, Madison in Federalist 51 argued that because the American society would be broken down into "many parts, interests, and classes of citizens," individual rights and minority rights would be protected. In Federalist 10 he explained how it would be much more difficult for factions to gain a majority in such a large and diverse country as America. Washington, too, recognized that this spirit of party or faction is inevitable, and leads to despotism of thought should one or two factions gain a majority, but he also recognized that they can be a useful check on government and on each other.

The government achieved in the Constitutional Convention by compromise and inspiration has become one of the most prosperous in the world. The enlargement of the sphere of government, along with the development of departmental checks and balances and the preservation of virtue, allowed this early central government outlined in the Constitution to be successful.