Many delegates believed that the federal government should be able to overrule state laws, but others feared that a strong federal government would oppress their citizens. The delegates compromised by allotting specific responsibilities to the federal government while delegating all other functions to the states. The Constitution also created an executive branch and a judicial branch, which set up a system of checks and balances. All three branches would have a distribution of power so that no one branch could become more powerful than another.